Cibrar  jp  of t:he  trheolojical  ^tmmaxy 

PRINCETON  .  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of 
Jaiaes  Everett  Frame 

BX  8  .S32  1893 

schaff,  Philip,  1819-1893. 

The  reunion  of  Christendom 


DOCUMENT  XXXIII. 


THE 

REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM 


PREPARED  FOR  THE  PARLIAMENT   OP  RELIGIONS  AND  THE 
NATIONAL  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE 
HELD  IN  CHICAGO,  SEPTEMBER  AND  OCTOBER,  1893 


BY 

PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE  OFFICE: 

611  UNITKD  CIIARITIKS  H11IM)ING 
4th  avenue,  CORNER  32t)  STREET,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

1893 


DOCUMENT  XXXIII. 


THE 


REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM 


PREPARED    FOR   THE   PARLIAMENT    OF   RELIGIONS   AND  THE 
NATIONAL  CONFERENCE  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  ALLIANCE 
HELD  IN  CHICAGO,  SEPTEMBER  AND  OCTOBER,  1893 


BY 

PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


EVANGELICAL  ALLLVNCE  OFFICE: 

611  UNITKD  CUARITIEH  IJUILDINO 
4th  avenue,  corner  22d  STUKET,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

1893 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2015 

https://archive.org/details/reunionofchristeOOscha 


CONTEOTS. 


PAGE 


The  DiflSeulty  of  tlie  Problem   1 

The  Existing  Uuity    2 

The  Divisions  of  Christendom   4 

Division  not  an  Unmixed  Evil   8 

Variety  Essential  to  Unity   10 

Inelusiveness,  not  Exclusiveness   12 

Dilferent  Kinds  of  Chi-istian  Union   14 

Voluntary  Associations  of  Individual  Chi-istians   15 

Confederate  Union  of  Chui-ches   17 

The  Four  Anglican  Articles  of  Reunion   19 

Organic  Union   24 

Union  with  the  Catliolic  Church   25 

The  Greek  and  Roman  Churclies    26 

The  Old  Catholic  Union  Conferences   26 

Papal  Infallibility   28 

Restatement  of  Confessional  Differences  in  tlie  Interest  of  Truth  and 

Peace   29 

Peter  and    30 

Orthodoxy  and  Progress   31. 

Exegotical  Progi-ess   31 

Historical  Progress   32 

(,'hang<;s  of  Opinions   35 

The  Church  and  Science   36 

Means  of  Promoting  Christian  Union    38 

Conclusion    40 


THE  EEUNION  OF  CHEISTENDOM. 


"  Neither  for  these  only  do  I  pray,  but  for  them  also  that  believe  on  me 
through  their  word ;  that  they  may  all  be  one ;  even  as  thou,  Father,  art 
in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  in  us :  that  the  world  may  be- 
lieve that  thou  didst  send  me." — John  17  : 20,  21. 


THE  DIFFICULTY  OF  THE  PROBLEM. 

"  With  men  this  is  impossible,  but  with  God  all  things  are 
possible." 

This  answer  of  our  Saviour  to  the  question  of  his  disciples 
"Wlio  can  be  saved?"  may  weU  be  applied  to  the  question, 
"How  shall  the  many  sections  of  the  Chi'istian  world  be 
united  ? " 

When  St.  Paul  entered  the  eternal  city  as  an  obscure  pris- 
oner, chained  to  a  rude  heathen  soldier,  no  philosopher  or 
historian  coidd  have  foreseen  the  conversion  of  the  Roman 
empire  to  the  religion  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth;  and  yet  in  less 
than  three  hundred  years  the  crowned  successor  of  Nero 
appeared,  as  a  worshiper  of  Christ,  among  the  bishops  of  the 
('ouncU  of  Nicnea,  and  the  symbol  of  shame  and  defeat  had 
become  the  synil)()l  of  glory  and  victory. 

When  Augustin,  an  humble  monk,  baptized  the  painted 
Anglo-Saxon  savages  of  Kent,  he  did  not  dream  that  he  was 
hmng  the  foundation  of  Christian  England  with  its  missions 
encircling  the  globe. 

Columbus  died  in  the  belief  that  he  had  discovered,  not  a 
continent,  l)ut  merely  a  western  passage  to  the  East  Indies ; 

1 


2 


THE  REUNION  OP  CHRISTENDOM. 


and  Pope  Alexander  VI.,  in  tlie  exercise  of  his  authority  as 
the  arbiter  of  Christendom,  divided  the  New  World  between 
Catholic  Spain  and  Portugal ;  but  Providence  intended  to  give 
the  control  of  North  America  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  to 
make  it  a  home  of  religious  freedom  and  progress. 

'■'■Dens  luihet  suas  Iwras  et  moras."  A  thousand  years  are 
with  God  as  one  day,  and  he  may  accomphsli  in  one  day  the 
work  of  a  thousand  years.  Sooner  or  later,  in  his  own  good 
time,  and  in  a  manner  far  better  than  we  can  devise  or  hope, 
he  will,  by  the  power  of  his  Spu-it,  unite  all  his  children  into 
one  flock  under  one  Shepherd. 

THE  EXISTING  pjITY. 

The  reunion  of  Christendom  presupposes  an  original  union 
/  which  has  been  marred  and  obstructed,  but  never  entirely 
destroyed.  The  theocracy  of  the  Jewish  dispensation  con- 
tinued during  the  division  of  the  kingdom  and  during  the 
Babylonian  exUe.  Even  in  the  darkest  time,  when  Ehjah 
thought  that  Israel  was  wholly  given  to  idolatry,  there  were 
seven  thousand — known  only  to  God — who  had  never  bowed 
their  knees  to  Baal.  The  Church  of  Christ  lias  been  one  from . 
the  beginning,  and  he  has  pledged  to  her  his  unbroken  presence 
I  "aU  the  days  to  the  end  of  the  world."  The  one  invisible 
Church  is  the  soul  which  animates  the  divided  visible  Churches. 
All  true  believers  are  members  of  the  mystical  body  of  Christ., 

"The  saints  in  lieaven  and  on  earth 
But  one  communion  make  : 
All  join  in  Christ,  their  living  Head, 
And  of  his  graee  partake." 

Let  us  briefly  mention  the  prominent  points  of  unity  which 
underlies  all  divisions. 

Christians  differ  in  dogmas  and  theology,  but  agree  in  the 
fundamental  articles  of  faith  which  are  necessary  to  salvar 


THE  EXISTING  UNITY.  3 

tion :  they  believe  in  the  same  Father  in  heaven,  the  same  • 
Lord  and  Sa\dom",  and  the  same  Holy  Spii'it,  and  can  join  in 
every  clanse  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  of  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis, 
and  the  Te  Deum. 

They  are  divided  in  church  goveminent  and  discipline,  but 
aU  acknowledge  and  obey  Christ  as  the  Head  of  the  Church 
and  chief  Shepherd  of  our  souls.  ^ 

They  differ  widely  in  modes  of  worship,  rites  and  cere- 
monies, but  they  worship  the  same  God  manifested  in  Chi-ist, 
they  sun'ound  the  same  throne  of  grace,  they  offer  from  day 
to  day  the  same  petitions  which  the  Lord  has  taught  them, 
and  can  sing  the  same  classical  hymns,  whether  wi'itten  by 
Cathohc  or  Protestant,  Greek  or  Roman,  Lutheran  or  Re- 
fonned,  Calvinist  or  Methodist,  Episcopalian  or  Presbyterian, 
Ptedo-Baptist  or  Baptist.  Some  of  the  best  hymn-writers — as 
Toplady  and  Charles  Wesley — were  antagoiiistic  in  theology ; 
yet  then*  hj-mns,  "Rock  of  Ages,"  and  "Jesus,  Lover  of  my 
soul,"  are  sung  with  equal  fervor  by  Calvinists  and  Methodists. 
Newman's  "  Lead,  kindly  Light,"  will  remain  a  favorite  hymn 
among  Protestants,  although  the  author  left  the  Church  of 
England  and  became  a  cardinal  of  the  Church  of  Rome.  "  In 
the  Cross  of  Chi-ist  I  glory,"  and  "  Neai-er,  my  God,  to  Thee," 
were  written  by  devout  Unitarians,  yet  have  an  honored  place 
in  every  trinitarian  hymnal. 

There  is  a  unity  of  Christian  scliolarship  of  all  creeds,  which 
aims  at  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth. 
This  unity  has  been  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  Anglo-Amer- 
ican Revision  of  the  Authorized  Version  of  the  Scriptures,  in 
which  about  one  hundred  British  and  American  scholars — 
Episcopalians,  Indcix-ndcnts,  Pr('sl)yterians,  Metliodists,  Bap- 
tists, Friends,  and  Unitarians,  have  lianiioniously  eoopei-atod 
for  fourteen  years  (from  1870  to  1884).  It  wjis  my  privilege  to 
attend  almost  every  meeting  of  the  American  RevLsers  in  the 


4  ,  THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 

Bible  House  at  New  York,  and  several  meetings  of  the  Britisli 
Revisers  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  of  "Westminster  Abbey ; 
and  I  can  testify  that,  notwithstanding  the  positive  convictions 
of  the  scholars  of  the  different  communions,  no  sectarian  issue 
was  ever  raised ;  all  being  bent  upon  the  sole  pm-pose  of  giving 
the  most  faithful  idiomatic  rendering  of  the  original  Hebrew 
\  and  Greek.  The  English  Version,  in  its  new  as  well  as  its  old 
;  form,  will  continue  to  be  the  strongest  bond  of  union  among 
the  different  sections  of  English-speaking  Christendom — a  fact 
of  incalculable  importance  for  private  devotion  and  public 
worship. 

Formerly,  exegetieal  and  historical  studies  were  too  mudi 
controlled  by,  and  made  subservient  to,  apologetic  and  polemic 
ends ;  but  now  they  are  more  and  more  carried  on  without 
prejudice,  and  with  the  sole  object  of  ascertaining  the  meaning 
of  the  text  and  the  facts  of  history  upon  which  creeds  must  be 
built. 

Finally,  we  must  not  overlook  the  ethical  unity  of  Christen- 
dom, which  is  much  stronger  than  its  dogmatic  unity  and  has 
never  been  seriously  shaken.  The  Grreek,  the  Latin,  and  the 
Pi'otestant  Churches,  alike,  accept  the  Ten  Commandments  as 
explained  by  Christ,  or  the  law  of  supreme  love  to  God  and 
love  to  our  neighbor,  as  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  Law,  and 
they  look  up  to  the  teaching  and  example  of  our  Saviour  as 
the  purest  and  most  perfect  model  for  universal  imitation. 

THE  DIVISIONS  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 

The  unity  and  harmony  of  the  Christian  Church  were  threat- 
ened and  disturbed  from  the  beginning,  partly  by  legitimate 
controversy,  which  is  iusepnrable  fi-om  progress,  partly  by 
ecclesiastical  domination  and  intolerance,  partly  by  the  spirit 
of  i)ride,  selfishness  and  narrowness  which  tends  to  civate 


THE  DmSIONS  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


5 


heresy  and  schism.  Hence  the  frequent  exhortations  of  the 
Apostles  to  avoid  strife  and  contention,  and  to  "  keep  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace." 

The  Church  had  hardly  existed  twenty  years  when  it  was[ 
brought  to  the  brink  of  disruption  by  the  question  of  circum-^ 
cision  as  a  condition  of  ehureh-inenibership  and  salvation,  and 
would  have  been  split  into  a  Jewish  Church  and  a  Gentile 
Church,  had  not  the  wisdom  and  charity  of  the  Apostles  pre- 
vented such  a  calamity  at  the  Council  of  Jerusalem.  Not  long 
afterward  the  same  irritating  question  produced  at  Antioch  a 
temporary  alienation  even  between  Paul  and  Peter. 

The  party  spirit  which  characterized  the  philosophical  schools 
of  Greece,  manifested  itself  in  the  congregation  at  Corinth,  and 
created  four  divisions,  calling  themselves  respectively  after 
Paul,  Apollos,  Cephas,  and  Christ  (in  a  sectarian  sense).  Against 
this  evil  the  Apostle  raised  his  indignant  protest :  "  Is  Christ 
di\ided  1  was  Paul  crucified  for  you '?  or  were  ye  baptized 
into  the  name  of  Paid?"  (1  Cor.  1: 13.)  If  it  is  wrong  to 
give  a  Church  the  name  of  an  inspired  Apostle,  can  it  be  right 
to  call  it  after  an  uninspired  teacher,  though  he  be  as  great  as 
Luther  or  "Wesley  ? 

1.  Many  schisms  arose  in  the  early  ages  before  and  after 
the  Council  of  Nicaea.  Almost  every  great  controversy  resulted 
in  the  excommunication  of  the  defeated  party,  wlio  organized 
a  separate  se(!t,  if  they  were  not  externiinated  by  the  civil 
power.  The  Nestorians,  Armenians,  Jac()l)ites,  and  Copts,  who 
\  seceded  from  the  Orthodox  Greek  Church,  continue  to  this  day 
i«s  relies  of  dead  controversies.  The  schism  of  the  Donatists, 
who  were  once  as  numerous  and  as  well  organized  in  North 
Africa  as  the  Catholics,  was  cxtingnislied  not  so  much  by  the 
urgu7n('nts  of  St.  Augiistin,  the  last  great  African,  as  by  the 
barbarian  invasion  whi(!h  overwhelmed  both  parties  in  a  com- 
iiHiii  ruin. 


6 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


2.  In  the  iiintli  century,  the  gi-eat  CathoUc  Church  itself  was 
split  in  two  on  the  doctrinal  question  of  the  procession  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  the  ecclesiastical  question  of  the  primacy  of 
the  bishop  of  Rome.  The  Greek  schism  lasts  to  this  day  and 
seems  as  far  from  being  healed  as  ever.  It  is  even  intensified 
by  the  two  modern  dogmas  of  the  Roman  Chui-ch — the  im- 
maculate conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  infallibility 
of  the  pope.  It  is  strange  that  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches, 
which  agree  most  in  doctrine,  worship,  and  government,  should 
be  most  antagonistic  and  irreconcilable  in  spirit  and  feeling, 
so  as  to  defy  every  attempt  at  reunion.  The  Pope  of  Rome 
and  the  Czar  at  St.  Petersburg  are  the  greatest  rivals  in  Chris- 
tendom. The  Sultan  still  holds  the  key  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
and  Tm'kish  soldiers  keep  watch  to  prevent  Greek  and  Latin 
monks  from  fighting  on  the  sacred  spot  in  passion  week ! 

In  \'iew  of  this  greatest,  and  yet  least  justifiable,  of  all 
schisms,  neither  the  Greek  nor  the  Latin  Church  should  cast  a 
stone  upon  the  divisions  of  Protestantism.    They  all  share  in 
I  the  sin  and  guilt  of  schism,  and  should  also  share  in  a  common 
repentance. 

3.  In  the  sixteenth  centmy,  the  Latin  or  Western  Church 
was  rent  into  two  hostile  camps,  the  Roman  and  the  Protest- 
ant, in  consequence  of  the  evangeHcal  reformation  and  the 
papal  reaction. 

j  Prf)t('stantism,  again,  appeared  first  in  three  main  divisions : 
I  Luthei-an,  Reformed  (Calvinistic),  and  Anglican.  The  formei- 
two  divided  the  field  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  on  the 
Continent,  and  acquired  an  equal  legal  status  in  Germany  after 
the  ten-ible  ordeal  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  by  the  Treaty  of 
Westphalia  (1048),  in  si)ite  of  the  protest  of  the  pope.  In 
France,  the  Protestants  were  given  legal  toleration  by  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  in  1598,  which,  however,  was  revoked  in  1685. 
In  Holland,  flie  Reformed  Cliurch  tiiuiiii)hed  in  the  great 


THE  DmSIONS  OP  CHRISTENDOM. 


7 


straggle  for  political  and  religious  liberty  against  Spain.  In 
England  and  Scotland,  the  whole  nation  became  Protestant. 
Southern  Eiu'ope  and  the  gi-eater  part  of  Ii-eland  remained 
Roman  Catholic. 

4.  In  England,  a  new  era  of  division  dates  from  the  Tolera- 
tion Act  of  1G88,  which  secured  to  the  orthodox  dissenters — 
Presb}i;erians,  Independents,  Baptists,  and  Quakers — a  limited 
toleration,  whUe  the  Episcopal  Chui-ch  remained  the  estal)Ushed 
or  national  religion  in  England,  and  the  Reformed  or  Presby- 
terian C'hm'ch  remained  the  national  rehgion  in  Scotland. 

The  principle  of  toleration  gradually  developed  into  that  of 
religious  fi-eedom,  and  was  extended  to  the  Methodists,  Unita- 
rians, and  Roman  Cathohcs. 

Under  the  reign  of  freedom,  there  is  no  limitation  to  the 
midtiphcation  of  denominations  and  sects,  and  there  oiight  to 
be  none.  We  cannot  have  the  use  of  freedom,  which  is  the 
greatest  gift  of  God,  without  the  risk  of  its  abuse  by  sinful 
and  en-ing  men. 

We  find,  therefore,  the  largest  number  of  denominations  in 
England  and  America  where  religious  freedom  is  most  fidly 
enjoj'ed ;  wliile  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  especially  in 
Roman  Catholic  countries,  fi-eedom  of  public  worshij)  is  denied 
or  abridged,  although  of  late  it  is  making  irresistible  progress. 

5.  In  the  United  States,  all  the  creeds  and  sects  of  Europe 
me(>t  on  a  basis  f)f  lilierty  and  equality  before  the  law,  and  are 
multiplied  by  native  ingenuity  and  entei'j)rise. 

We  are  informed  by  Dr.  CarroU,  the  official  editor  of  the 
religious  statistics  of  the  census  of  1890,  that  there  are  no  less 
than  143  religious  denominations  in  the  United  States,  besides 
a  numl)er  of  independent  congregations. 

This  l)are  statement,  it  is  true,  wonkl  give  a  false  impression, 
and  must  be  con-ected  by  the  additional  .statement,  on  the 
same  authority,  tli.il  11*)  of  these  den«miinfttions  fall  into  18 


8 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENT)OM. 


gi'oups  or  families,  leaving  only  24  whicli  are  sepai*ate  and 
distinct. 

This  would  make  42  different  denominations.  Some  of  these 
are  not  Christian,  or  are  very  insignificant,  and  might  as  well  be 
omitted.  But  even  this  reduced  number  is  much  too  large,  and 
a  reproach  to  the  Christian  name.  For  these  di\'isious  promote 
jealousies,  antagonisms,  and  interferences  at  home  and  on  mis- 
sionaiy  fields  abroad,  at  the  expense  of  our  common  Christian- 
ity.   The  e^'il  is  beginning  to  be  felt  more  and  more. 

The  cure  must  begin  where  the  disease  has  reached  its  crisis, 
and  where  the  Chxu'ch  is  most  fi-ee  to  act.  For  the  reunion  of 
Christendom,  like  religion  itself,  cannot  be  forced,  but  must  be 
free  and  voluntaiy. 

Christian  union  and  Christian  freedom  are  one  and  insep- 
arable. 

Note. — The  United  States  census  statistics  of  1890  count  17  branches 
of  Methodists,  13  branches  of  Baptists,  12  Lutheran,  and  12  Presbj'terian 
organizations,  which  are  separate  and  independent,  yet  essentially  agi'ee. 
There  are  12  kinds  of  Meunonites,  4  kinds  of  Dnnkards,  2  kinds  of  Chris- 
tians, 4  kinds  of  Plj-mouth  Brethren.  6  kinds  of  Adventists,  etc.  It  is  re- 
markable that  England,  which  still  has  a  national  Chui-ch.  shoidd  even 
have  a  larger  number  of  sects  than  the  United  States,  namely,  254,  accord- 
ing to  Whitaker's  Almanack  for  1892,  p.  249.  But  the  report  of  the  regis- 
trar-general in  1877  numbered  only  122. 

DI^^SION  NOT  AN  LTN^^nXED  E%TL. 

Before  we  disctiss  reunion,  we  shotild  acknowledge  the  hand 
of  Pro\ideuce  in  the  present  divisions  of  Christeudom. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  denomiuationaUsm  and 
sectarianism  :  the  first  is  consistent  with  Church  unity  as  well 
as  military  corjis  are  with  the  unity  of  an  army,  or  the  many 
monastic  orders  with  the  unity  of  the  papacy ;  the  second  is 
notliing  but  extended  selfishness  and  bigotry.  Denomination- 
,  alism  is  a  blessing ;  sectarianism  is  a  curse. 

We  must  remember  that  denominations  are  most  numerous 


DIVISION  NOT  AN  UNMIXED  E\^L. 


9 


in  the  most  advanced  and  active  nations  of  the  world.  A  stag- 
nant Chm'ch  is  a  sterile  mother.  Dead  orthodoxy  is  as  bad  as 
heresy,  or  even  worse.  Sects  are  a  sign  of  life  and  interest  in 
religion.  The  most  important  periods  of  the  Chm-eh — the 
Nicene  age,  and  the  age  of  the  Reformation — were  full  of  con- 
troversy. There  are  divisions  in  the  Chiu-eh  which  cannot  be 
justified,  and  there  are  sects  which  have  fulfilled  their  mission 
and  ought  to  cease.  But  the  historic  denominations  are  perma- 
nent forces  and  represent  various  aspects  of  the  Chi-istian  re- 
ligion which  supplement  each  other. 

As  the  Ufe  of  our  Saviom*  could  not  be  fully  exhibited  by  j 
one  Gospel,  nor  his  doctrine  fully  set  forth  by  one  Apostle,' 
much  less  could  any  one  Christian  body  comprehend  and  man- 
ifest the  whole  fullness  of  Christ  and  the  entire  extent  of  hia 
mission  to  mankind. 

Every  one  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  Chui-ch  has  had,  and 
stUl  has,  its  peculiar  mission  as  to  territory,  race  and  national-  i 
ity,  and  modes  of  operation. 

The  Greek  Church  is  especially  adapted  to  the  East,  to  the 
Greek  and  Slavonic  peoples ;  the  Roman,  to  the  Latin  races 
of  Southern  Europe  and  America ;  the  Protestant,  to  the  Teu- 
tonic races  of  the  North  and  West. 

Among  the  Protestant  Churches,  again,  some  have  a  special 
gift  for  the  cultivation  of  Christian  science  and  literature; 
others  for  the  practical  development  of  the  Christian  life; 
some  are  most  successfiU  among  the  higher,  others  among  the 
middl(!,  and  still  others  among  the  lower  classes.  None  of 
them  could  be  spared  without  gi'eat  detriment  to  tlie  cause  of 
religion  and  morality,  and  without  leaving  its  territory  and 
constituency  spiritually  destitute.  Even  an  inipei-fe(!t  Churdi 
is  better  than  no  Church. 

No  schi.sm  occurs  without  guilt  on  one  or  on  ))otli  sides. 
"It  must  needs  be  that  offenses  come,  but  woe  to  that  nmn  l)y 


10 


THE  REOaON"  OF  CHRLSTEXDOM. 


whom  the  offense  cometh."  Yet  God  orerroles  the  sins  and 
follies  of  man  for  his  own  glory. 

The  separation  of  Paul  and  Barnabas,  in  consequence  of 
their  "sharp  contention*'  concerning  Mark,  resolted  in  the 
enlargement  of  missionary  labor.  If  Luther  had  not  burned 
the  pope's  bull,  or  had  recanted  at  Worms,  we  would  not  have 
a  Lutheran  Church,  but  be  still  under  the  spiritual  tyranny  of 
the  papacy.  If  Luther  had  accepted  ZwingU's  hand  of  fellow- 
ship at  Marburg,  the  Protestant  cause  would  have  been 
stronger  at  the  time,  but  the  full  development  of  the  charac- 
teristic features  of  the  two  principal  Churches  of  the  Reforma- 
tion would  have  been  prevented,  or  obstructed.  II  John  Wes- 
ley had  not  ordained  Coke,  we  would  not  have  a  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  which  is  the  strongest  denomination  in  the 
United  States.  If  Chalmers  and  his  friends  had  not  seceded 
from  the  General  AsvSembly  of  the  Kirk,  of  Scotland  in  1843, 
forsaking  every  comfort  for  the  sake  of  the  sole  headship  of 
Christ,  we  would  miss  one  of  the  grandest  chapters  in  modem 
Church  history. 

All  divisions  of  Christendom  wiLL  in  the  providence  of  God, 
be  made  subservient  to  a  greater  harmony.  Where  the  sin  of 
schism  has  abounded,  the  grace  of  future  reunion  will  much 
more  abound. 

VAKIETr  ESSENTIAL  TO  UXITT. 

Taking  this  view  of  the  divisions  of  the  Church,  we  must 
reject  the  idea  of  a  negative  reunion,  which  would  destn:>y 
all  denominational  distinctions  and  thus  undo  the  work  of 
the  past. 

HLN-tory  is  not  like  "the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision''  that 
leaves  "  not  a  rack  behind."  It  is  the  unfolding  of  God's  plan 
of  infinite  wisdom  and  mercy  to  mankind.  He  is  the  chief 
actor,  and  rules  and  overrules  the  thoughts  and  deeds  of  his 


VARIETY  ESSENTIAL  TO  UNITY. 


11 


servants.  We  are  told  that  our  heavenly  Father  has  num- 
bered the  very  haii-s  of  oiu-  head,  and  that  not  a  sparrow  fall- 
eth  to  the  gi'ound  A^nthout  his  "vvill.  The  labors  of  confessors 
and  martjTS,  of  missionaries  and  preachers,  of  fathers,  school- 
men and  refonners,  and  of  the  countless  host  of  holy  men  and 
women  of  all  ranks  and  conditions  who  lived  for  the  good  of 
the  world,  cannot  be  lost.  They  constitute  a  treasure  of  in- 
estimable value,  for  all  future  time.  The  Apostle  encom*ages 
his  brethren  to  be  "  stedf ast,  unnioveable,  always  abounding 
in  the  work  of  the  Lord,"  because  their  "  labor  is  not  iu  vain 
in  the  Lord"  (1  Cor.  15:58).  Whatever  is  built  upon  the 
foujidation  of  Jesus  Christ  shall  stand. 

Yariety  in  unity  and  unity  in  variety  is  the  law  of  God  in  • 
natm-e,  in  histoiy,  and  in  his  kingdom.  Lenity  without  variety 
is  dead  uniformity.  There  is  beauty  in  variety.  There  is  no 
harmony  without  many  sounds,  and  a  garden  incloses  all  kinds 
of  flowers.  God  has  made  no  two  nations,  no  two  men  or 
women,  not  even  two  trees  or  two  flowers,  alike. '  He  has  en- 
dowed every  nation,  every  Church,  yea,  every  individual  Cliris- 
tian,  with  pecidiar  gifts  and  graces.  His  power,  his  wisdom, 
and  his  goodness  are  reflected  in  ten  thousand  forms. 

"There  are  diversities  of  gifts,"  says  St.  Paul,  "but  the 
same  Spirit.  And  there  are  diversities  of  ministrations,  and 
the  same  Lord.  And  there  are  diversities  of  workings,  but  the 
same  God,  who  worketli  all  things  in  all.  But  to  each  one  is 
given  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  to  profit  withal "  (1  Cor. 
12:  4-7). 

We  must,  therefore,  expect  the  greatest  variety  in  the  Chiu'ch 
of  the  future.  There  are  good  Christians  who  believe  in  the  ' 
ultimate  triumph  of  their  own  creed,  or  form  of  government 
and  worship,  l)ut  they  are  all  mistaken  and  indulge  in  a  vain 
dream.  The  world  will  never  be(u)me  wholly  Greek,  nor  wlioUy 
Roman,  nor  wholly  Protestant,  but  it  will  become  wholly  Chris- 


12 


THE  REUNION  OP  CHRISTENDOM. 


tian,  and  will  include  every  type  and  eYery  aspect,  every  virtue 
and  every  grace  of  Christianity — an  endless  variety  in  har- 
monious unity,  Christ  being  all  in  all. 

mCLUSIVENESS,  NOT  EXCLUSIVENESS. 

Every  denomination  which  holds  to  Christ  the  Head  vnti. 
retain  its  distinctive  peculiarity,  and  lay  it  on  the  altar  of 
reunion,  but  it  will  cheerfully  recognize  the  excellencies  and 
merits  of  the  other  branches  of  Grod's  kingdom.  No  sect  has 
the  monopoly  of  tnith.  The  part  is  not  the  whole ;  the  body 
consists  of  many  members,  and  all  are  necessary  to  each  other. 
■  Episcopalians  will  prefer  their  form  of  government  as  the 
best,  but  must  concede  the  validity  of  the  non-episcopal  min- 
istry. 

Baptists,  while  holding  fast  to  the  primitive  mode  of  immer- 
,  sion,  must  allow  pouring  or  affusion  to  be  legitimate  baptism. 

Protestants  will  cease  to  regard  the  pope  as  the  Antichrist 
predicted  by  St.  Paul  and  St.  J ohn,  and  will  acknowledge  him 
as  the  legitimate  head  of  the  Roman  Chui'ch ;  while  the  pope 
ought  to  recognize  the  respective  rights  and  privileges  of  the 
Greek  patriarchs,  and  evangelical  bishops  and  pastoi-s. 

Tliose  who  prefer  to  worship  God  in  the  forms  of  a  stated 
liturgy,  ought  not  to  deny  others  the  equal  right  of  free 
prayer,  as  the  Spirit  moves  them.  Even  the  silent  worship  of 
the  Quakers  has  Scriptiu-e  authority ;  for  there  was  "  a  sUeuce 
.  in  heaven  for  the  space  of  half  an  hour  "  (Rev.  8:1). 

Doctrinal  differences  will  be  the  most  difficult  to  adjust. 
Wlien  two  dogmas  flatly  contradict  each  other,  the  one  deny- 
ing what  the  other  asserts,  one  or  the  other,  or  both,  must  be 
wrong.    Truth  excludes  error  and  admits  of  no  compromise. 

Hut  truth  is  many-sided  and  all-sided,  and  is  reflected  in 
different  colors.    Tlie  creeds  of  Christendom,  as  alreatly  re- 


mCLUSrV^ENESS,  NOT  EXCLUSIVENESS. 


13 


marked,  agi'ee  in  the  essential  articles  of  faith,  and  their  differ- 
ences refer  either  to  minor  points,  or  represent  only  various 
aspects  of  truth,  and  supplement  one  another. 

Calvinists  and  Arniinians  are  both  right,  the  former  in  • 
mamtaining  the  sovereignty  of  God,  the  latter  in  maintaining 
the  freedom  and  moral  resj)onsibility  of  man ;  but  they  are 
both  wrong,  when  they  deny  one  or  the  other  of  these  two 
truths,  which  are  equally  important,  although  we  may  not  be 
able  to  reconcile  them  satisfactoi-dy.  The  conflicting  theories  ♦ 
on  the  Lord's  Supper  which  have  caused  the  bitterest  contro- 
versies among  mcdippval  Schoolmen  and  Protestant  Refonners 
turn,  after  aU,  only  on  the  mode  of  C-lu-ist's  presence ;  while  aU 
admit  the  essential  fact  that  he  is  spiritually  and  really  present, 
and  partaken  of  })y  believers,  as  the  bread  of  life  from  heaven. 
Even  the  two  chief  differences  between  Romanists  and  Protest- 
ants concei'ning  Scripture  and  tradition,  as  rules  of  faitli,  ajid 
concerning  faith  and  good  works,  as  conditions  of  justifi(!a- 
tion,  admit  of  an  adjustment  hy  a  better  understanding  of  the 
nature  and  relationship  of  Scripture  and  tradition,  of  faith  and 
works.  The  difference  is  no  greater  than  that  between  St. 
Paul  and  St.  James  in  their  teaching  on  justification ;  and  yet 
the  Epistles  of  both  stand  side  by  side  in  the  same  canon  of 
Holy  Scripture. 

We  nmst  remember  that  the  dogmas  of  the  Church  are 
earthly  vessels  for  heavenly  treasures,  or  imperfect  human 
definitions  of  divine  truths,  and  may  be  improved  by  better 
statements  with  ihv,  advance  of  knowledge,  i  Our  theological 
systems  are  ])ut  dim  rays  of  the  sun  of  tnith  which  illumi- 
nates tlu!  universe!.    Truth  fii'st,  doctrine  next,  dogma  last. 

"Oui' little  systems  luive  I  heir  diiy  ; 

'I'licy  liav.!'  tlicir  day  and  eeasc  to  ho; 
Tlicy  are  bill  bi'okeii  lights  ol'  tliee, 
And  llioii,  ()  hold,  art  more  lliaii  tiiey." 


14 


THE  RELfNION  OF  CHRISTENDOIM. 


Every  denomination  should  prepare  a  short  popiilar  and 
ii-enic  creed  of  the  essential  articles  which  it  holds  in  common 
with  all  others;  and  leave  the  larger  confessions  of  faith  to 
theologians,  whose  business  it  is  to  investigate  the  mysteries 
and  solve  the  problems  of  faith. 

DIFFERENT  KINDS  OP  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

The  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  ended  in  division ; 
the  Reformation  of  the  twentieth  century  will  end  in  reunion. 
The  age  of  sectarianism  is  passing  away,  the  age  of  catholicity 
is  coming  on.  The  progress  has  begun  in  earnest.  Though 
many  experiments  may  fail,  the  cause  of  union  is  steadily 
gaining. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  union :  individual,  federal,  and  or- 
ganic. 

1.  Individual  union  is  a  voluntaiy  association  of  Christians 
of  different  Churches  and  nationalities  for  a  common  puiiiose. 

2.  Federal  or  confederate  union  is  a  voluntary  association  of 
different  Churches  in  their  official  capacity,  each  retaining  its 
freedom  and  independence  in  the  management  of  its  internal 
affairs,  but  all  recognizing  one  another  as  sisters  with  equal 
rights,  and  cooperating  in  general  entei-prises,  such  as  the 
spread  of  the  gospel  at  home  and  abroad,  the  defense  of  the 
faith  against  infldelitj',  the  elevation  of  the  i)oor  and  neglected 
classes  of  society,  works  of  philanthropy  and  charity,  and  moral 
reform. 

Such  an  ecclesiastical  confederation  would  resemble  the 
political  conf(;dcrati()ns  of  Switzerland,  the  United  States,  and 
the  modern  German  Emi)ire.  The  beauty  and  strength  of 
these  confederate  governments  lie  in  the  union  of  the  general 
sovereignty  with  the  iiiti-insic  independence  of  the  several 
cantons,  or  states,  or  kingdoms  and  duchies. 


VOLUNTARY  ASSOCIATIONS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  CHKISTL\NS.  15 


3.  Oi'gauic  or  corporate  union  of  all  the  Chm-ches  under  one 
government.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  claims  to  be  the 
one  and  the  only  Chiu-ch  of  Christ,  governed  by  his  vicar  in 
the  Vatican  ;  and  undoubtedly  she  presents  the  most  imposing- 
organization  the  world  has  ever  seen.  The  Roman  Clun-eh 
goes  back  in  unbroken  line  to  the  days  of  the  Apostles ;  she 
extends  over  five  continents,  and  is  controlled  by  an  aged, 
unmaiTied  priest,  whose  encyclicals  command  the  attention 
of  every  I'eader  in  Christendom.  Proud  of  her  past,  she  con- 
fidently hopes  to  absorb  at  no  distant  time  the  Greek  schism 
and  all  the  Protestant  sects. 

But  this  is  an  impossibility.  The  history  of  the  Greek 
Church  and  of  the  Protestant  Churches  cannot  be  undone,  as 
little  as  that  of  the  Roman  Chiu'ch.  The  last  thi'ee  or  four 
hundred  years  have  done  as  much,  or  more,  for  Christianity 
and  civilization  than  the  Catholic  middle  ages.  Christ  needs 
no  vicar:  he  is  the  ever-living  Head  of  his  Church,  present 
everywhere  and  at  all  times.  He  promised  us  one  flock  under 
one  shepherd,  but  not  one  fohJ.  The  famous  passage,  John 
10:  16,  has  been  niisti-anslated  by  the  Latin  Vulgate,  and  tlie 
error  has  passed  into  King  James's  Version.  Christ's  fiock  is 
one,  but  there  are  many  folds,  and  there  will  be  "  many  man- 
sions in  lieavcn." 

We  must  look,  therefore,  to  a  much  broader  union  than  that 
of  the  papacy,  a  union  whi(,'h  will  include  th(;  Greek,  the  Roman 
Catholic,  and  the  Protestant  Churches  under  the  sole  headship 
of  Christ. 

VOLITNTAUY  ASSOCIATIONS  OK  INDIVIDU.U.  ( 'IIKISTIANS. 

Protestaiil  Clii'istiaiis  of  (lit'lVrciit  dfiioiiiiiial ions  liave  asso- 
ciated for  coiiiiiioii  objects  in  \oIuiitary  societies,  such  as  liilile 
Societies,  Trad  Societies,  Suiida v-school  riiions,  Youiiii'  iMcn's 


16 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


and  Young  Women's  Christian  Associations,  Evangelical  Alli- 
ances, and  Clu'istian  Endeavor  Societies.  These  societies  are 
aU  of  comparatively  recent  growth,  and  are  doing  gi-eat  service 
to  the  cause  of  Christian  union.  We  mention  the  two  largest 
and  most  influential. 

1.  The  Evmujelical  Alliance  was  founded  in  London  in  1846 
by  representative  men  of  Europe  and  America,  for  the  promo- 
tion of  Christian  union  and  the-  defense  of  Christian  liberty. 
It  has  manifested,  on  a  large  scale,  the  great  fact  that  Chi-istiaus 
of  different  creeds,  nationalities,  and  tongues  are  one  in  Christ. 

The  Alliance  has  national  branches  in  different  comitries,  but 
liolds  from  time  to  time  general  conferences  for  tlie  promotion 
of  its  objects.  These  conferences  have  proved  a  signal  bless- 
ing to  the  coimtries  in  which  they  were  held.  The  first  Gen- 
eral Conference  met  in  London,  1851,  the  second  in  Paris, 
1855,  the  third  in  Berlin,  1857,  the  fmirth  in  Geneva,  1861,  tlie 
fifth  in  Amsterdam,  1867,  the  sixth  in  New  York,  1873  (the 
largest  and  most  enthusiastic  of  all),  the  seventh  in  Basel,  1879, 
the  eighth  in  Copenhagen,  1884,  the  ninth  in  Florence,  1891.* 

It  is  probable  that  in  1896  all  branches  of  the  Alliance  will 
meet  in  London  to  celebrate  the  first  semi-centennial  of  the 
society,  and  make  a  new  start  on  an  enlarged  scale  as  a  Pan- 
Christian  Alliance. 

The  AUiance  has  also  done  great  service  in  the  defense  and 
promotion  of  religions  liberty.  It  has  fir.st  pi-oclainunl  the  i)rin- 
ciple  that  Christian  union  and  religious  liberty  are  inseparably 
connected. 

2.  The  Christian  Endeavor  Societies  are  scarcely  more  than  a 

*  I  attended,  as  honorary  secret ary.  (lie  (ieiienil  Coiiferenc-ps  at  Now 
York,  Basel,  and  Copenliafren,  and  furnislied  jiaiiers  (ni  Cliristianity  in  tin- 
United  States  (18.')7  and  1879),  on  llie  Old  ("atholie  MovcnnMit  (1873),  on 
the  Discord  and  Concord  of  Christendom  (1S,S4),  and  on  the  lieiniissaiu-e 
and  the  Kcfonnat ion  (for  the  conferiMice  in  Florence,  1H!)1),  and  edited, 
with  Dr.  I'liiiie,  the  ]'roceetlinf^s  of  the  Conference  of  187:j. 


CONFEDERATE  UNION. 


17 


dozen  years  old,  and  have  spread  -ndth  wonderful  rapidity  from 
New  England  over  Protestant  Clu'istendoni.  They  carry  the 
spirit  of  union  and  cooperation  into  local  Churches,  and  unite 
young  men  and  women  for  gi-eater  efBciency  in  prayer  and 
active  Christian  work. 

These  societies  have  likewise  assumed  an  interdenomina- 
tional and  international  character.  The  last  general  meetings, 
held  in  New  York,  July,  1892,  and  in  Montreal,  July,  1893, 
have  sui-prised  the  world  by  the  extraordinary  enthusiasm 
and  \'itality  of  our  rising  Christian  youth,  and  are  among  the 
most  hopeful  signs  of  the  times.  Even  the  Roman  CathoUc 
Mayor  of  Montreal  heartily  welcomed  the  Convention  as  "an 
ally  in  the  battle  of  belief  against  unbelief." 

The  sense  of  the  superiority  of  the  common  creed  of  Chris- 
tendom over  sectarian  creeds  is  strengthened  by  the  best 
pi-eaehing  of  the  day,  and  by  religious  periodicals  which  are 
undenominational  yet  thoroughly  evangelical,  and  surpass  in 
circulation  and  influence  many  sectarian  organs. 

CONFEDERATE  UNION. 

We  now  pass  beyond  tlu;  union  of  indi\aduals  to  the  union 
of  Churches.  The  first  step  in  this  direction  is  the  confedera- 
tion of  the  several  branches  of  those  denominations  which 
pi-ofcss  the  same  cnH'd  (as  the  Augsl)urg  Confession,  or  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism,  or  tlic  Westminster  Confession),  but 
differ  as  to  interpretation,  or  in  the  rigidity  of  subscription,  or 
in  a  number  of  minor  differences  of  government  and  discipline, 
or  in  methods  of  church  work. 

Family  feuds  are  often  the  most  bitter  and  painful ;  hence  it  isj 
more  difficult  to  heal  the  divisitms  of  different  branches  of  the 
Luthei-an,  Prcsl)ytei-ian, 'Methodist,  Baptist,  and  otlicr  ("hurcli 
families  than  to  unite  distin<'t  and  separate  denominations. 


18 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


Nevertheless  several  such  attempts  have  been  actually  made, 
with  more  or  less  success. 

1.  The  Alliance  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  usually  called  the 
"Pan-Presbyterian  Alliance,"  was  organized  iu  the  English 
Presbyterian  College  at  London,  July,  1875,  by  rejiresentative 
di\'ines  and  lapneu  of  Eui-ope  and  America,  most  of  whom  had 
taken  a  leading  part  in  tlie  Evangelical  AUiance.  It  embraces 
the  Chm-ches  wliicli  liold  to  the  consensiis  of  the  Reformed 
confessions  of  faith  and  the  Presbyterian  system  of  govern- 
ment. Its  object  is  to  bring  them  into  closer  communi(m  and 
co()peration  in  mission  fields,  and  for  the  sup])()rt  of  the  weaker 
branches,  as  the  Waldensians  and  the  Keformed  Bohemians. 
The  Alliance  does  not  claim  any  legislative  authority.  Tlie 
doctrinal  consensus  has  not  been  defined,  but  it  is  generally 
ujiderstood  to  embrace  only  the  fundamental  articles  of  the 
evangelical  faith,  which  the  German  Keformed  and  the  semi- 
Arminian  Cumberland  Presbyterians  hold  in  common  with  the 
high  Calvinists. 

The  AUiance  holds  from  time  to  time  General  Councils  in  dif- 
ferent capitals.  The  first  of  these  Councils  met  at  Edinbui-gli 
in  1877,  the  second  at  Philadelphia  in  1880,  the  third  at  Belfast 
in  1884,  the  fourth  at  London  in  1888,  the  fifth  at  Toronto, 
Canada,  in  1892.*  The  sixth  will  Tiieet  at  Glasgow  in  189G.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  Geneva,  the  connnon  mother  of  the  Re- 
formed Churches,  will  not  be  overlooked  in  selecting  a  place 
for  future  meetings.  It  may  also  be  expe(^ted  that  the 
Chm'ches  represented  in  this  Alliance  will  ultimately  agree 
upon  a  ])rief  jmjjular  aud  ircuic  consensus  creed,  which  is  sug- 
gested iu  the  constitution  aud  was  discussed  at  Edinburgli, 
1877,  and  in  subsequent  Councils. 

*  I  took  part,  as  a  delegate,  in  tlic  forinatioii  of  the  Alliance  in  187"), 
attended  all  the  f'oiincils  e.\e<>i)t  the  last,  and  prejjaved  addresses  on  the 
(Jonsensus  of  tlie  Heformed  Confessions  (1877),  and  on  the  Toleration  Aet 
of  1688  (for  the  London  Council  in  1888). 


THE  FOUR  ANGLICAN  ARTICLES  OF  REUNION. 


19 


2.  The  Pan-Methodist  Conference.  Tlie  various  branches  of 
the  aggi'essive  and  progressive  Methodist  family  have  followed 
the  example  of  the  Presbyterians  and  held  an  enthusiastic 
international  Conference  at  London,  1881,  and  a  second  one  at 
Washing-ton,  the  capital  of  the  United  States,  in  1892,  where 
delegates  from  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Council  of  Toronto  were 
kindly  received  as  Christian  brethren  notwithstanding  the  doc- 
trinal differences. 

3.  The  Congregationalists  of  England  and  America  held  an 
International  Congress  at  London  in  1891,  and  discussed  aU 
tlie  religious  (juestious  of  the  day  with  great  ability. 

4.  Tlie  Awjlkan  Council  consists  of  all  the  bishops  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Churches  of  Great  Britain,  the  British 
Colonies,  and  the  United  States.  It  has  so  far  held  three  meet- 
ings at  Lambeth  Palace,  Loudon,  under  the  presidency  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  fii-st  in  18G7,  the  second  in  1878, 
tlie  third  in  1888. 

The  thii-d  council  was  by  far  the  most  important.  It  was 
attended  l)y  one  hundred  and  forty-five  bishops  of  Great 
Britain  and  America,  and  ado])ted,  with  slight  modifications,  a 
l)rogi'am  for  the  reunion  of  ChrLstendoui  which  had  l)een  pre- 
viously proposed  by  the  House  of  Bisho})s  in  the  General  Con- 
vention of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United 
States  at  Chicago  in  1886. 

THE  POITR  ANGLICAN  ARTICLES  OP  RETOION. 

This  Anglican  progi-am  consists  of  four  articles  as  "a  basis 
on  whi(!h  ap])roach  may  be  by  God's  blessing  made  toward 
liome  reunion."    The  articles  aj-e  as  follows: 

"I.  Tho  Holy  Scriptures  of  tlic  01<1  aiul  New  Testaments,  as  'eontaiu- 
ijifj  all  tliiiifjs  iiecessary  to  salvation,'  anil  as  being  tho  rule  and  ultimato 
sliiiidiinl  of  faitli. 


20 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


"II.  The  Apostles'  Creed,  as  the  Baptismal  Symbol;  and  the  Nieene 
Creed,  as  the  sufficient  statement  of  the  Christian  faith. 

"III.  The  two  Sacraments  ordained  by  Christ  himself — Baptism  and 
the  Supper  of  the  Lord — ministered  with  the  unfailing  use  of  Christ's 
words  of  institution,  and  of  the  elements  ordained  by  him. 

"IV.  The  Historic  Episcopate,  locally  adapted  in  tlie  methods  of  its 
administration  to  the  varying  needs  of  the  Tiations  and  peoples  called  of 
(Jod  into  the  unity  of  his  Church. 

"This  Conference  earnestly  requests  the  constituted  authorities  of  the 
varioiis  branches  of  our  communion,  acting,  as  far  as  may  be,  in  concert 
with  one  another,  to  make  it  known  that  they  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  enter  into  l)rotlu'rly  conference  (such  as  that  which  lias  already  been 
proposed  by  the  Cliurcli  in  the  United  States  of  America)  with  the  repre- 
sentatives of  other  Christian  communions  in  the  English-speaking  races 
in  order  to  consider  what  steps  can  be  taken,  either  toward  corporate 
reunion,  or  toward  such  relations  as  may  i>repare  the  way  for  fuller  oi'ganic 
unity  hereafter. "  * 

This  overture  looks  toward  a  eonfoderation  of  all  Englisli- 
speakiiig  Evangelical  C'hurches,  and  possibly  even  to  an  or- 
ganic union.  As  it  conies  from  tlie  largest,  most  conservative, 
and  most  churclily  of  all  the  Protestant  eoinniniiions,  it  is  en- 
titled to  the  highest  respect  and  to  serious  consideration.  It 
commends  itself  by  a  remarkalile  degree  of  liberality.  It  says 
nothing  of  the  Thirty-niiie  Ai'ticles,  nor  of  the  Book  of  (^)m- 
mon  Prayer,  and  leaves  iho  confederate  Cliurches  free  to  keep 
their  own  confessions  of  faith  and  modes  of  worship.  What  a 
difference  between  this  lil)erality  and  the  narrow  policy  of  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  which  by  legislative  acts 
of  confonnity  would  force  one  creed,  one  discipline,  aiul  one 
liturgy  upon  England,  Scotland,  and  TrclMud  !  Instead  of  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  the  Lambeth  Articles,  and  the  Irish  Arti- 
cles, which  end)ody  a  whole  system  of  divinity,  we  have  but 
four.    The  first  and  the  third  articles  arc  already  agreed  upon 

*SeG  Tlic  f.iiwlxlli  Coiijrrriircs  of  ISdT,  1S7S,  and  1SS8;  edited  by  Ivniidall 
T.  Davidson,  London,  188!),  jjp.  280,  281. 


THE  FOUR  ANGUCAN  ARTICLES  OF  RELTN'ION. 


21 


by  all  Protestants.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed  and  the  Nicene  Creed,  except  that  the  latter  would 
exclude  Uuitarian  Christians,  and  that  the  Western  addition  of 
^^Filioque  "  would  never  be  accepted  by  the  Oriental  Cluireli. 

The  only  serious  diiiicidty  is  the  "  historic  episcopate."  This 
is  the  stumbling-block  to  all  non-episcopalians,  and  will  never 
be  conceded  by  them  as  a  condition  of  Cliurch  xmity,  if  it  is 
understood  to  mean  the  necessity  of  three  orders  of  the  minis- 
try and  of  episcopal  ordination  in  unbroken  historic  succes- 
sion. Christ  says  nothing  about  bishops  any  more  than  about  • 
patriarchs  and  popes,  and  does  not  prescrilie  any  particular 
form  of  church  government.  All  scholars,  including  the  most 
learned  of  the  ancient  Fathers — as  St.  Jerome  or  St.  Cliiysos- 
tom — and  of  the  modei-n  Episcopalians — as  Bishop  Lightfoot 
— admit  the  original  identity  of  bishops  and  j)resbyters,  as  is 
evident  from  the  New  Testament  and  the  post-apostolic  wiit- 
ings  before  the  Ignatian  Epistles.* 

And  as  to  an  unbroken  episcopal  succession,  it  is  of  little 
avaU  without  the  moi-e  important  succession  of  the  s])irit  and 
life  of  Christ,  our  ever-present  Lord  and  Saviour,  who  is  as  near 
to  his  people  in  the  nin(!teenth  century  as  he  was  in  the  first. 
Even  where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  liis  name,  he 
is  in  the  midst  of  them.    Chi  CJirisfus,  ihi  Ecdesia.  , 

The  Church  of  England  recognized  in  various  ways,  directly 

'  T\w  Preface  to  tlio  Ordinal  of  tlio  Ein'sfopal  Clmrcli  is  not  sustained 
by  tlie  facts  of  history  wlieii  it  affirms  that,  "it  is  evident  unto  all  men 
ililigently  reading  tin;  Holy  Scriptures  and  Ancient  Authors,  that  , /Vow  the 
Apostlfs'  time  there  have  been  these  orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's  Church  : 
Bisliops,  Priests,  and  Deacons."  The  Preface  is  ascribed  to  Cranmer  (l.)49), 
but  it  was  altered  in  1002.  The  earliest  testimony  to  the  three  orders  is 
that  of  Ifrnatius  of  Antioch  (after  a.d.  107) ;  but  he  rejiresents  the  bishop, 
surrounded  by  a  colle<f('  of  elders  iiiid  ileacons,  as  the  head  of  a  single 
congregation,  not  of  a  dioce.se.  This  is  congregatioiuil  ejiiscojiacy.  Dio- 
cesan ei)iscoj)acy  a])|)ears  toward  the  end  of  the  sec()n<l  century  in  the 
writings  of  Irenieus  and  Tci-luUian. 


22 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


or  indirectly,  the  validity  of  Presbj-terian  ordination,  and  held 
comniuuion  with  Lutheran  and  Cahduistic  Churches  on  the 
Continent  from  the  Reformation  down  to  the  Restoration  in 
1662,  when  the  Ordinal  was  introduced  in  its  present  form. 

Archbishop  Cranmer,  the  greatest  Anglican  litiu'gist,  called 
Martin  Bucer,  a  mediator  between  the  Lutheran  and  the  Swiss 
Reformers,  from  Strassbiirg  to  the  chair  of  systematic  theology 
in  Cambridge,  and  Peter  MartjT,  a  strict  Calvinist,  in  the  same 
capacity,  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  and  consulted  them  freely 
in  the  preparation  of  the  Articles  of  Religion  and  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.  The  Elizal)ethan  bishops,  who  during  theii* 
exile  under  Queen  Mary  had  sought  refuge  in  Ziirich,  Basel, 
and  Geneva,  wrote  letters  overflowing  with  gratitude  for  the 
hospitality  and  kindness  received  from  the  Swiss  Reformers 
and  preachers,  and  addi'essed  them  as  spu'itual  fathers  and 
l)rethi'en.  B;dlinger's  Decades  and  Cahdn's  Institutes  were  the 
highest  authorities  in  the  universities  of  England,  and  the  in- 
fluence of  Beza's  editions  of  the  Greek  Testament,  his  text  and 
notes,  is  manifest  in  the  Authorized  Version  of  King  James. 
The  "judici(ms"  Hookei-,  the  standard  writer  on  church  poUty, 
expressed  profound  veneration  for  Calvin  as  "  the  wisest  man 
that  ever  the  French  Church  did  enjoy"  (Preface  to  his  Eeele- 
siastical  Polity) ;  and  he  expressly  admitted  an  "  exti'aordinary 
kind  of  vocation  where  the  Church  nnist  needs  have  some  or- 
dained and  neither  hath  nor  can  liave  ])()ssibly  a  ])ishop  to  or- 
dain ;  in  case  of  such  necessity,  the  tn'dinary  institution  of  God 
hath  given  oftentimes,  and  may  give,  place.  And  therefore?  we 
arc  not  simply  without  exception  to  ui'ge  a  lineal  descent  of 
pow(!r  from  the  Apostles  by  continued  succession  of  bishops  in 
every  eff'ectual  ordination"  {fJcrJcsidstirdl  Polity,  book  \\\.,  14). 
Even  James  I.,  who  hated  the  Presbyterians,  sent  five  delegates, 
including  three  bishops  (George  Carh'ton,  .Toliii  Davenant,  and 
Jos(!])h  Hall),  to  the  Calvinisti(t  Synod  of  Dort,  wlio  raised  no 


THE  FOUR  ANGLICAN  ARTICLES  OP  REUNION. 


23 


question  about  the  necessity  of  the  episcopate  for  the  being  or 
the  well-being  of  the  Church. 

Let  us  learn  something  froHi  liistoiy.  '  All  respect  for  the 
historic  episcopate !  It  goes  back  in  unbroken  line  abuost  to 
the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  and  no  one  can  dispute 
its  historical  necessity  or  measure  its  usefiduess.  But  God 
has  also  signally  blessed  the  Lutheran,  the  Presbyterian,  and 
the  Congi-egational  ministry  for  many  generations,  with  every 
prospect  of  growing  usefulness  for  the  futiu'e ;  and  what  God 
has  blessed  no  man  shoidd  lightly  esteem.  The  non-episcopal 
Churches  will  nevci-  uncliurch  tliemselves  and  cast  reproach  on 
then-  mhustry.  They  will  only  negotiate  with  the  Episcoj^al 
Church  on  the  basis  of  equality  and  a  recognition  of  the  valid- 
ity of  their  ministiy.  Each  denomination  must  offer  its  idol 
on  the  altar  of  reunion. 

But  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  tlie  Episcopal  Church  will  give  the 
historic  episcopate,  as  "  locally  adapted,"  such  a  liljeral  construc- 
tion as  to  include  "  the  historic  presbyterate,"  wliich  dates  from 
the  apostolic  age  and  was  never  intemipted,  or  will  drop  it 
altogether,  as  a  term  of  reunion.  At  the  Reunion  Conference 
at  (jirindelwald  in  1892,  which  is  to  be  repeated  at  Lucerne  in 
1893,  Episcopal  dignitaries  conferred  with  Dissenting  ministers 
as  Christian  brethren. 

In  any  case,  we  hail  the  Episcopal  pi-oposal  as  an  important 
stej)  in  the  right  direction,  and  as  a  hojx'ful  sign  of  tli(^  future. 
It  is  in  the  line  of  a  noble  project  of  AiTh])ish()p  Cranmer,  who 
was  deeply  grieved  at  tlie  distractions  of  the  Church,  and  in- 
vited MelaiH^htlion,  Bullingcr,  and  Calvin  to  a  conference  in 
Laml)(!th  Pahuic  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  iq)  a  consensus 
(!reed  of  the  Reformed  Chunrlies.  Calvin  replied  that  for  .such 
a  holy  jmri)ose  he  would  cross  not  only  the  English  Channel, 
but  ten  seas. 


24 


THE  REUNION  OP  CHRISTENDOM. 


ORGANIC  UNION. 

1.  Au  organic  union  betweeil  the  Lutheran  and  German  Re- 
fonned  Churches,  into  which  German  Protestantism  has  been 
divided  since  the  sixteenth  century,  was  effected  in  1817  in 
connection  with  the  third  centennial  of  the  Reformation,  under 
the  lead  of  Frederick  William  III.,  King  of  Prussia  and  father 
of  the  first  emperor  of  united  Gei-many.  He  was  German 
Reformed,  like  his  ancestors  fi'om  the  tune  of  John  Sigismund 
of  Brandenburg  (1G14),  but  a  majority  of  his  subjects  were 
Lutherans.  Hence  the  traditional  tendency  of  the  House  of 
HohenzoUern  towards  union.  The  name  of  The  United  Evan- 
gelical Church  was  sul)stituted  for  the  two  separate  deiiomina- 
tional  names,  but  fi'eedom  Avas  allowed  to  retain  the  Liitheran 
or  Reformed  creed,  and  to  use  the  Augsbxu-g  Confession  or  the 
Heid(^lberg  Catechism,  according  to  custom  or  preference.  The 
Prussian  Union,  therefore,  is  not  an  absorptive,  but  a  conserva- 
tive, union  of  two  confessions  under  the  same  government  and 
administration. 

Several  other  German  States,  as  Baden  and  Wiirtemberg, 
have  followed  the  example  of  Prussia  to  their  advantage  ;  while 
those  States  which  were  exclusively  LutlieraJi,  as  Saxony  and 
the  Saxon  Duchies,  adhere  to  theii-  Lutheran  name  and  tradi- 
tion. 

The  Evangelical  Union  has  l)een  acconi])anied  and  strength- 
ened, since  the  days  of  Schleiermacher  and  Neander,  by  a  corre- 
sponding t}^)e  of  theology,  wliich  comliines  Lutheran  and  Cal- 
Aanistic  elements.  This  theology,  divided  into  different  schools, 
prevails  in  all  the  Prussian  universities,  as  also  in  Heidelberg 
and  Tiibingen,  and  is  the  umst  jn-ogressive  theology  of  the 
•  age. 

2.  In  our  country,  the  recent  histoi'V  of  the  l'resl)>/feri((n 
Cliurch  furnishes  ;in  example  of  organic  union.    Tlic  Old  School 


UNION  WITH  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH.  25 


and  the  Neio  School,  which  were  divided  in  1837  on  doctrinal 
questions,  were  reunited  by  a  free  and  simnltaneoiis  impulse  in 
the  year  18G9  on  the  basis  of  orthodoxy  and  Uberty,  and  have 
prospered  all  the  more  since  theii*  reunion,  although  the  differ- 
ences between  consei-vative  and  progi*essive  tendencies  stiQ  re- 
main, and  have,  within  the  last  few  years,  come  into  collision 
on  the  (piestions  of  a  Re\'ision  of  the  Westminster  Standards, 
and  the  historical  criticism  of  the  Bible. 

3.  The  fom*  di\dsious  of  Presbyterians  in  Canada  have  for- 
gotten their  old  famUy  quan'els,  and  have  been  united  in  one 
organization  since  1875. 

4.  The  Methodists  in  Canada,  who,  tiU  1874,  were  divided  into 
five  independent  bodies,  have  recently  united  in  one  organi- 
zation. 

UNION  WITH  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH. 

If  all  the  Protestant  Churches  were  united  by  federal  or  or- 
ganic union,  the  greater,  the  most  difficult,  and  the  most  im- 
portant part  of  the  work  woidd  still  remain  to  be  accomplished ; 
for  Christian  luiion  must  include  the  Greek  and  the  Roman 
Churches.  They  ai"e  the  oldest,  the  largest,  and  claim  to  )^e 
the  most  orthodox;  the  former  numbering  al^out  84,{)0(),000 
members,  the  latter  215,000,000,  while  all  the  Protestant  de- 
nominations together  number  only  1  ;!0,000,()00. 

If  any  one  Church  is  to  be  the  center  of  unificati(m,  that' 
honor  nnist  l)e  conceded  to  the  Creek  or  the  Roman  communion. 
Tiic  Protestant  denominations  are  all  descended,  directly  or 
indirectly,  from  the  Latin  Church  of  tlic  Middle  Ages;  wliile 
tlie  Greek  and  Liitin  Churches  trace  thcii-  origin  back  to  the 
apostolic  age,  tlie  (Jreek  to  tlie  congi-egation  of  .b-riisalem,  the 
Latin  to  the  congregation  of  Rtjme. 


26 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


THE  GREEK  XSD  ROJIAN  CHURCHES. 

Fil'st  of  all,  the  two  great  di\-isious  of  Catholicism  should 
come  to  an  agreement  among  themselves  on  the  disputed  ques- 
tions about  the  eternal  Procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the 
authority  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome. 

On  both  points,  the  Greek  Chiu'ch  is  supported  by  the  testi- 
mony of  anti<{uity,  and  could  not  jdeld  without  stultifying  her 
whole  history.  The  original  Nicene  Creed  does  not  teach  a 
double  Procession,  which  is  a  later  addition,  made  in  Spain  and 
Gaul,  and  first  disapproved  by  Pope  Leo  III.,  but  accepted  by 
his  successors ;  and  the  Oecumenical  Councils,  all  of  which 
were  held  in  the  East  and  called  by  the  Greek  emperors,  con- 
cede to  the  Bishop  of  Old  Rome  only  a  primacy  of  honor  among 
five  patriarchs  of  equal  rights  and  independent  jurisdiction. 

The  first  difficulty  could  easily  be  solved  by  omitting  the 
Filioque  from  the  Nicene  Creed,  or  by  substituting  '\se)it  hy  the 
Father  and  the  Son,"  for  "jn'oceeds  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son."  For  the  Greek  Church  never  denied  the  double  Mission 
of  the  Spirit  which  began  with  the  day  of  Pentecost,  while  the 
Procession  is  an  eternal  intertiinitarian  process,  like  the  eter- 
nal generation  of  the  Son  fi*om  the  Father. 

The  second  difficulty  is  far  greater. 

Will  Rome  ever  make  concessions  to  the  truth  of  history? 
We  hope  that  she  will. 

THE  OLD  CATHOUC  UTsIOX  C0NFERENC3S. 

Under  the  auspices  of  the  Old  Catholic  Clmrch,  and  under  tlie 
lead  of  Dr.  Dollinger  of  Munich,  who,  before  he  was  excommu- 
nicated on  account  of  his  protest  against  the  Vatican  dogma  of 
papal  infallibility,  was  esteemed  in  the  IJonian  Cliui-ch  as  her 
most  learned  historian  and  divine,  two  conferences  were  held 


THE  OLD  CATHOLIC  UXIOX  COXFEREN'CES. 


27 


at  Bonn,  in  1874  and  1875,  with  a  view  to  prepare  for  a  eon- 
federation  and  iutereomniiuiion  of  the  Old  Cathohc,  the  Ortho- 
dox Greek  and  Russian,  and  the  Angheau  Chiu-ches,  on  the 
basis  of  the  oecumenical  consensus  of  the  ancient  Chiu-eh  before 
the  di%'ision,  and  of  the  Episcopal  succession. 

These  conferences  were  attended  by  some  of  the  ablest  and 
most  learned  dignitaries  of  these  thi-ee  commimions,  and  agi'eed 
upon  a  doctrinal  basis  of  fouiteeu  articles,  and  the  settlement 
of  the  Filioque  couti-oversy  by  a  compromise  which  substitutes 
the  Procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  Father  through  the 
Sou  for  the  Latin  docti*ine  of  the  Procession  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
fi-om  the  Father  and  the  Son* 

These  important  conclusions  of  the  Bonn  Conferences  have 
not  been  officially  ratified  by  any  of  the  Eaistern  or  Anglican 
Churches,  but  may  be  revived  and  acted  upon  at  some  future 
time. 

There  is  a  paily  among  the  Anglo-Catholics  which  is  more 
anxious  for  union  with  the  Old  Catholic  and  the  Gneco-Russian 

*  See  the  German  and  Latin  text  of  the  Bonn  Consensus,  with  a  his- 
torical introduction,  in  Schaff"s  Creeds  of  ChrMcmlom,  voL  ii..  pp.  .54.5-554. 
Di-.  Dollinger  regarded  the  Vatican  dogma  of  infallibility  and  the  order  of 
the  Jesuits  as  the  chief  obstacles  to  the  reunion  of  Churches,  but  hoped 
that  the  agreement  at  Bonn  might  be  a  means  for  orientation  and  a  basis 
for  future  transactions  at  a  more  favorable  politicaf  conjunction.  See 
his  lectures  on  the  Wkdervcreiiiujuuy  der  christlk-hen  Kirclieii  (Nordlingen, 
1888).  These  lectures  were  delivered  at  Munich,  1872,  translated  into  Eng- 
lish by  Oxenham  from  manuscript  and  newspaper  reports  (London,  1872), 
and  from  English  into  French  by  Mi-s.  Hyacinthe-Loyson  (La  reunion  des 
eyhxes,  Paris,  1880),  and  finally  published  by  the  author  himself  (1888). 

I  wa.s  present,  as  an  in\nted  guest,  at  the  Second  Conference  in  Bonn, 
and  listened  with  admiration  to  Diillinger's  speeches,  which  were  brimfid 
of  information  and  delivered  in  excellent  English  with  youthful  \igor. 
although  he  was  then  seventy-six  years  old.  He  seemed  to  know  more 
aljout  the  subject  than  all  the  other  delegates.  Repeated  efforts  were 
made,  even  by  Pope  Leo  XIII.,  to  win  him  back,  but  he  died  excommuni- 
cated in  1890.  in  his  ninety-second  year.  See  Hrir/r  iind  F.rkUiruniii  n  ron 
./.  ran  lUiUnujer  iiher  die  f'iilir/iiii.-rh<  ii  Dii  riti.  1><0!1-1887  (edited  by  I*rof. 
Reusch),  Miinchen,  1890. 


28. 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


Chtireh  tlian  with  any  Protestant  denomination  nearer  home, 
filthongh  the  Greek  and  Russian  delegates  at  Bonn  expressed 
doubts  as  to  the  validity  of  AngUcau  orders. 

Tlie  conferences  with  the  Old  Cathohes  were  resumed  in 
Switzerland  in  1892. 

PAPAL  INFALLIBILITY. 

The  difficulty  of  union  with  the  Roman  Church  is  appai'ently 
increased  by  the  modern  dogma  of  papal  absolutism  and  papal 
infaUibility,  declared  by  the  Vatican  Council  in  1870.  This 
dogma  is  the  logical  completion  of  the  papal  monarchy,  the 
apex  of  the  pjTamid  of  the  hierarchy.  But  it  can  refer  only 
to  the  Roman  Chiu'ch.  The  official  decisions  of  the  pope,  as 
the  legitimate  head  of  the  Roman  Chui'ch,  are  final  and  bind- 
ing upon  all  Roman  Catholics,  but  they  have  no  force  whatever 
for  any  othei'  Christians. 

The  antichristian  feature  of  the  papacj'  to  which  the  Reforih- 
ei's  objected,  begins  where  the  pope  claims  jm-isdiction  over  fill 
Christendom.  It  is  no  less  than  a  pope,  and  one  of  the  ver}- 
best  of  tliom,  Gregory  I.,  who  protested  in  official  (and  there- 
fore! iiifaUibl(!)  lettei's  against  the  assumption  by  the  Greek 
patriarchs  of  the  title  of  "  oecumenical"  or  "laniversal  bishop,"' 
which,  he  says,  belongs  to  Christ  alone.  He  branded  such  an 
assumption  as  "  antichristian,"  and  preferred  to  call  himself 
"  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God." 

What  if  the  pope,  in  the  spirit  of  the  first  Gregory  iuid 
under  the  inspiration  of  a  higher  authority,  should  iufallil)ly  de- 
clare his  own  falliliility  in  all  matters  lying  outside  of  his  own 
communion,  and  in\ite  Gi'eeks  and  Protestants  to  a  fraternal 
pan-Christian  council  in  Jerusalem,  where  the  mother-church  of 
.  Cliristendom  lield  the  first  council  of  reconciliation  and  peace? 

But  whctlici- in  Jcrusalciii  oi-  K'oiuc,  or  (as  Cardinal  Wiseman 
tlnnight)  in  Berlin,  or  (as  some  Americans  think)  on  the  banks 


RESTATESIENT  OP  CONFESSIOXAL  DIFFERENCES. 


29 


of  the  Mississippi,  the  war  between  Rome  and  Constantinople, 
and  between  Eome,  Wittenberg,  Geneva  and  Oxford,  •nnll  be 
fonght  out  to  a  peaceful  end  when  all  the  Chiu-ches  shall  be 
thoroughly  christianized  and  all  the  creeds  of  Christendom  uni- 
fied in  the  creed  of  Christ. 

RESTATE3IENT  OF  CONFESSIONAL  DIFFERENCES  IN  THE 
INTEREST  OF  TRUTH  AND  PEACE. 

The  reunion  of  the  entu'e  Cathohc  Church,  Greek  and  Roman, 
with  the  Protestant  Churches,  tvtII  require  such  a  restatement 
of  all  the  controverted  points  by  both  parties  as  shall  remove 
misrepresentations,  neutralize  the  anathemas  pronounced  upon 
imaginary  heresies,  and  show  the  way  to  harmony  in  a  broader, 
higher,  and  deeper  consciousness  of  God's  truth  and  God's 
love. 

In  the  heat  of  controversy,  and  in  the  struggle  for  supremacy, 
the  contending  parties  mutually  misrepresented  each  othei-'s 
views,  put  them  in  the  most  unfavorable  light,  and  perverted 
partial  truths  into  unmixed  eiTors.  Like  hostile  armies  en- 
gaged in  battle,  they  aimed  at  the  destruction  of  the  enemy. 
Protestants  in  theii-  confessions  of  faith  and  polemical  works 
denounced  the  pope  as  "  the  Antichrist,"  the  papists  as  "  idola- 
ters," the  Roman  mass  as  an  "aecm-sed  idolatry,"  and  the  Roman 
Church  as  "  the  synagogue  of  Satan  "  and  "  the  Babyhmian  har- 
icot,"— all  in  ])ert"ect  honesty,  on  the  gi'ouud  of  certain  misun- 
derstood passages  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  John,  and  especially  of 
tli(!  mysterious  Book  of  the  Revelation,  whose  references  to  the 
persecutions  of  pagan  Rome  were  directly  or  indirectly  applied 
to  j)apal  Home.  Rome  answered  l)v  ])]()()dy  i)ersc('uti()ns ;  the 
Council  of  Trent  (dosed  witli  a  double  anathema  on  all  Protest- 
ant heretics,  and  the  po])e  aimually  re})eats  the  curse  in  tlic 
holy  week,  when  all  Christians  should  hunil)ly  and  pcnilcnily 


30 


THE  REUNION  OP  CHRISTENDOM. 


meet  around  the  cross  on  which  the  Saviour  died  for  the  sins 
of  the  wliole  world. 

When  these  hostile  armies,  after  a  long  struggle  for  supremacy 
without  success,  shall  come  together  for  the  settlement  of  terms 
of  peace,  they  will  be  animated  by  a  spii'it  of  conciliation  and 
single  devotion  to  the  honor  of  the  gi'eat  Head  of  the  Church, 
who  is  the  divine  concord  of  all  human  discords. 

PETER  AND  PAUL. 

There  is  truth  and  comfort  in  the  idea  that  the  apostolic  age 
anticipated  the  war  and  peace  of  subsequent  ages. 

The  Apostles  Avho  thus  far  have  most  influenced  the  course 
of  Church  history  are  Peter  and  Paul.  The  Apostle  whose 
spirit  will  preside  over  the  final  consummation  is  John,  the 
bosom  friend  of  Jesixs,  the  Apostle  of  love. 

Peter,  the  Apostle  of  authority,  represents  Jewish  and  Roman 
Christianity;  while  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  freedom,  who  was 
called  last,  and  called  irregularly,  yet  none  the  less  divinely, 
is  a  t^-pe  of  GentUe  and  Protestant  Christianity.  Peter  was 
called  "  Rock,"  but  also  "  Satan,"  by  his  Master.  He  fii-st  con- 
fessed Christ ;  he  even  hastily  drew  the  sword  in  his  defense ; 
and  then  denied  him  three  times.  But  Christ  i)rayed  for  him 
that  his  faith  "fail  not,"  and  prophesied  that  he  would  "turn 
again  and  strengthen  his  brethren"  (Luke  22:  32).  All  i)opes 
have  confessed  Christ,  and  many  have  drawn  the  sword,  or 
caused  temporal  princes  to  draw  it,  against  heretics ;  some  have 
denied  Christ  by  their  -ndeked  lives :  will  not  some  future  pope 
"turn  again  and  strengthen  his  brethren  "  ? 

The  same  Peter  boldly  defended  the  lil)erty  of  the  Gentile 
converts  at  the  Council  of  Jerusalem  and  ])rotested  agiiinst  the 
intolerable  yoke  of  l)()ndage  ;  yet  afterward,  in  consistent  incon- 
sistency, he  practically  disowned  that  liberty  at  Antiocli,  and 


EXEGETICAL  PROGRESS. 


31 


withdrew  from  fellowsliip  with  the  Gentile  brethren  (Gal. 
2  :  11  sqq.).  Has  not  the  pope  again  and  again  nnchnrched  all 
Protestant  Churches,  and  denied  that  liberty  wherewth  Christ 
has  made  us  free  ? 

Peter  accepted  the  severe  rebuke  of  the  younger  Apostle  of 
the  Gentiles,  find  both  died  martyrs  in  Rome,  to  live  forever 
united  in  the  gi-ateful  memory  of  the  Chiu'ch.  If  the  pope 
should  acknowledge  the  sins  of  the  papacy  and  extend  the  hand 
of  brotherhood  to  his  fellow-Christians  of  other  Churches,  he 
would  only  follow  the  example  of  him  whom  he  regards  as  his 
first  predecessor  in  office. 

ORTHODOXY  AND  PROGRESS. 

The  whole  system  of  traditional  orthodoxy,  Greek,  Latin,  and 
Protestant,  mu.st  progi-ess,  or  it  will  be  left  behind  the  age  and 
lose  its  hold  on  thinking  men.  The  Church  must  keep  pace 
with  civilization,  adjust  herself  to  the  modei'n  conditions  of  re- 
ligious and  political  freedom,  and  accept  the  established  resiUts  ! 
of  l>iblical  and  historical  criticism,  and  natural  science.  God 
speaks  in  histoiy  and  science  as  well  as  in  the  Bible  and  the 
Church,  and  he  cannot  contradict  himself.  Truth  is  sover- 
eign, and  must  and  will  prevail  over  all  ignorance,  error,  and 
l)rejudice. 

EXEGETICAL  PROGRESS. 

Tlie  history  of  the  Bible  is  to  a  large  extent  a  history  of 
abuse  as  well  as  use,  of  imposition  as  well  as  exposition.  No 
book  has  been  more  perverted. 

The  mechanical  inspiration  theory  of  the  seventeenth  cent- 
ury, which  confounded  inspiration  with  dictation  and  reduced 
the  ln))lical  authors  to  mere  clerks,  has  been  sujjerseded  by  a 
spiritual  .iiid  dynamic  theory,  which  alone  can  account  for  the 


32 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


ob^doiis  peculiarities  of  tliouglit  and  style,  and  whicli  consists 
with  the  dignity  of  God  and  the  freedom  of  man. 

Textual  ciitieism  has,  after  two  or  three  centuries  of  patient 
comparison  of  manuscripts,  versions,  and  patristic  quotations 
as  they  gradually  came  to  light,  purified  the  traditional  text  of 
the  Greek  Testament,  correcting  many  passages  and  omitting 
later  interpolations.  The  criticism  of  the  Hebrew  Bible  text 
and  the  Septuagint  has  begun  the  same  fundamental  process. 

Historical  criticism  is  putting  the  literature  of  both  Testa- 
ments in  a  new  light,  and  makes  it  more  real  and  intelligible 
by  explaining  its  eu\'ironments  and  organic  growth  until  the 
completion  of  the  canon. 

The  wild  allegorical  exegesis,  which  turns  the  Bible  into  a 
nose  of  wax  and  makes  it  to  teach  anything  that  is  pious  or 
orthodox,  has  been  gradually  superseded  by  an  honest  gram- 
matical and  historical  exegesis,  which  takes  out  the  real  mean- 
ing of  the  'miter  instead  of  putting  in  the  fancies  of  the  reader. 

Many  proof  texts  of  Protestants  against  popery,  and  of 
Romanists  against  Protestantism,  and  of  both  for  orthodoxy 
\  or  against  heresy,  can  no  longer  be  used  for  partisan  purposes. 

HISTORICAL  PROGRESS. 

Church  history  has  undergone  of  late  a  great  change,  partly 
^  in  conse(pience  of  the  discovery  of  lost  documents  and  deeper 
[  research,  partly  on  account  of  the  stand})()int  of  the  historian 
and  the  new  spirit  in  which  history  is  written. 

1.  Many  documents  on  which  theories  and  usages  were  built, 
have  been  abandoned  as  untenable  even  by  Roman  Catholic 
s(!holars.  We  mention  the  legend  of  the  literal  comi)osition  of 
the  Apostles'  Creed  by  the  Apostles,  and  of  the  origin  of  the 
creed  which  was  attributed  to  Athanasius,  though  it  did  not 
appear  till  four  centuries  jiftcr  his  death ;  the  fiction  of  Con- 
stantinc's  Donation  ;  the  apocr\^hal  letters  of  psendo-Tgiiiitiiis, 


HISTORICAL  PROGRESS. 


33 


of  pseudo-Clement,  of  pseudo-Isidorus,  and  other  post-apos- 
tolic and  mediaeval  falsifications  of  history,  which  were  uni- 
versally believed  till  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  and  even 
downi  to  the  eighteenth  centiuy. 

2.  Genuine  history  is  being  rewi'itten  from  the  standpoint  of 
impartial  tnith  and  justice.  If  facts  are  found  to  contravene 
a  cherished  theorj',  all  the  worse  for  the  theory ;  for  facts  are 
truths,  and  truth  is  of  God,  while  theories  are  of  men. 

Formerly  Chm-eh  history  was  made  a  mere  appendix  to  sys- 
tematic theologj',  or  abused  and  perverted  for  polemic  pur- 
poses. 

The  older  historians,  both  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
searched  ancient  and  mediaeval  history  for  weapons  to  defeat 
their  opponents  and  to  establish  then*  own  exclusive  claims. 
Placius,  the  fu-st  learned  Protestant  historian,  saw  nothing 
but  antichristian  dai-kness  in  the  Middle  Ages,  mth  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  scattered  "  Testes  Veritatis,'^  and  described  the 
Roman  Church  from  tlie  fifth  to  the  sixteenth  century  as  the 
great  apostasy  of  prophecy.  But  modern  Protestant  historians, 
following  the  example  of  Neander,  who  is  called  "  The  Father 
of  Cluirch  History,"  regard  tlie  Middle  Ages  as  the  period  of  the 
conversion  and  the  civilization  of  the  barbarians,  as  a  necessary 
link  between  ancient  and  modern  Christianity,  and  as  the  cratUe 
of  the  Reformation. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  opposite  t^rpe  of  historiogi-aphy,  rep- 
resented by  Cai'diiial  Baronius,  traced  the  papacy  to  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Christian  ei"a,  maintained  its  identity  througli 
all  ages,  and  denounced  the  Reformers  as  arch-heretics  and  the 
Reformation  as  the  foul  source  of  revolution,  war,  and  infidel- 
ity, and  of  all  the  evils  of  modern  society.  But  the  imj)artial 
sdiolars  of  the  Roman  Catliolic  Churcli  now  admit  the  necessity 
of  the  Refonnation,  tlie'pure  and  unselfi.sli  motives  of  the  Re- 
former.s,  and  the  beneficial  effects  of  thcii-  laboi-s  iijxui  their  own 
Churcli.    We  may  refer  to  the  7Tiii!ii  kjililc  judgments  of  Diil- 


34 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


linger  on  Luther  and  of  Kampschulte  on  Cahdu,  based  upon  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  then-  wiitings* 

A  great  change  of  spu-it  has  also  taken  place  among  the  liis- 
torians  of  the  different  Protestant  denominations.  The  early 
Lutheran  abhorrence  of  ZwingUanism  and  Cal\Tnism  has  dis- 
appeared fi'om  the  best  Lutheran  manuals  of  Chiu'ch  history. 
The  bitterness  between  Prelatists  and  Puritans,  Cah-inists 
and  Ai-minians,  Baptists  and  Pffidobaptists,  has  given  way  to 
a  eakn.  and  just  appreciation. 

Tlie  irapai'tial  historian  can  find  no  ideal  Church  in  any  age. 
It  was  a  high-priest  in  Aaron's  Une  that  crucified  the  Sav-iour ; 
a  Judas  was  among  the  Apostles;  all  sorts  of  sins  among 
church-members  are  rebuked  in  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment; there  were  "many  antichrists''  in  the  age  of  St.  John, 
and  there  have  been  many  since,  even  in  the  temple  of  God. 
Nearly  aU  Churches  have  acted  as  persecutors  Avlien  they  had 
the  chance,  if  not  by  fire  and  sword,  at  least  by  misrepresenta- 
tion, \'ituperation,  and  abuse.  For  these  and  all  other  sins, 
they  should  repent  in  dust  and  ashes.  One  only  is  pure 
and  spotless — the  gi-eat  Head  of  the  Church,  who  redeemed  it 
with  his  precious  blood. 

But  the  historian  finds,  on  the  otlier  hand,  in  every  age  and 
in  every'  Church,  the  footprints  of  Christ,  the  abundant  mani- 
festations of  his  Spiiit,  and  a  slow  but  sure  progress  toward 
that  ideal  Church  which  8t.  Paul  describes  as  the  fidluess  of 
him  who  tilleth  all  in  all.'' 

The  study  of  Church  history,  like  travel  in  foreign  lands, 

*  See  these  judgments  quoted  in  SehaflPs  Church  History,  vol.  vi.,  jip. 
741  sq.,  and  vol.  \\\.,  pp.  283,  412.  It  is  true,  Diillingor  and  Kanipscliulte 
died  excommunicated  on  account  of  their  opposition  to  the  Vatican  dognua 
of  papal  infallibility,  V)ut  they  were  good  Catholics  in  every  other  respect. 
Janssen's  famous  History  of  the  Gcniifiii  I'eopJe  and  Pastor's  History  of  the 
I'opcK  of  the  Renaimancc  are  written  from  the  modern  ultramontane  stand- 
point, hut  even  they  after  all  differ  considerably  in  tone  from  tlie  older 
Roman  Catliolic  liistorians. 


CHANGES  OF  OPIXIOXS. 


35 


destroys  prejudice,  enlarges  the  horizon,  liberalizes  the  mind, 
and  deepens  charity.  Palestine  by  its  eloqiient  rains  seizes  as 
a  eommentar)-  on  the  life  of  Chiist,  and  has  not  inaptly  been 
called  "  the  fifth  Gospel."  So  also  the  history  of  the  Church 
furnishes  the  key  to  unlock  the  meaning  of  the  Chui'ch  in  all 
its  ages  and  branches. 

The  study  of  liistoiy — ••  with  malice  toward  none,  but  with 
charity  for  all " — will  biing  the  denominations  closer  together 
in  an  humble  recognition  of  their  defects  and  a  grateful  praise 
for  the  good  which  the  same  Spiiit  has  wrought  in  them  and 
through  them. 

CHAXGES  OF  OPDaONS. 

Important  changes  have  also  taken  place  in  ti'aditional  opin- 
ions and  practices  once  deemed  pious  and  orthodox. 

The  Chiu'ch  in  the  Middle  Ages  fli-st  condemned  the  philos- 
ophy of  Aristotle,  but  at  last  tiu-ned  it  into  a  powerful  ally 
in  the  defense  of  her  doctrines,  and  so  gave  to  the  world  the 
Siinnua  of  Thomas  Aquinas  and  the  Divimi  Commedia  of  Dante, 
who  regjirded  the  great  Stagirite  as  a  foreranner  of  Chi-ist,  as  a 
philosophical  John  the  Baptist.  Luther,  likewise,  m  his  "\n-ath 
against  scholastic  theolog}-,  condemned  '"the  acciu-sed  heathen 
Aristotle,"  but  Melanchthon  judged  differently,  and  Pi-otestant 
scholai-ship  has  long  since  settled  upon  a  just  estunate. 

Gregoiy  VII.,  Innocent  III.,  and  other  popes  of  the  Middle 
Ages  claimed  and  exercised  the  power,  as  Nicars  of  Christ,  to 
depose  kings,  to  absolve  sul)jeets  from  their  oath  of  allegiance, 
and  to  lay  whole  nations  under  the  interdict  for  the  disobedi- 
ence of  an  individual.  But  no  pope  would  presume  to  do  such 
a  tiling  now,  nor  would  any  Catholic  king  or  nation  tolerate  it 
for  a  moment. 

Tlie  .strange  mjlhical  notion  of  the  ancient  Fathers,  that  the 
Christian  redemption  was  the  pn\nnent  of  a  debt  due  to  the 


36 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


devil,  who  had  a  claim  upon  men  since  the  fall  of  Adam,  hut 
had  forfeited  it  by  the  crucifixion,  was  abandoned  after  Anselm 
had  pubhshed  the  more  rational  theory  of  a  vicarious  atone- 
ment in  discharge  of  a  debt  due  to  God. 

The  unchristian  and  h<n-rible  doctrine  that  all  unbaptized 
infants  who  never  committed  any  actual  transgression,  are 
damned  forever  and  ever,  prevailed  for  centimes  under  the 
authority  of  the  gi'eat  and  holy  Augustiu,  but  has  lost  its  hold 
even  upon  those  divines  who  defend  the  necessity  of  water- 
baptism  for  salvation.  Even  high  Anglicans  and  strict  Cal- 
vinists  admit  that  all  children  dying  in  infancy  are  saved. 

The  equally  unchi-istian  and  fearful  theory  and  ijractice  of 
i-eligious  compulsion  and  persecution  by  fii*e  and  sword,  fii'st 
mUdly  suggested  by  the  same  Augustin,  and  then  fonnulated 
by  the  master-theologian  of  the  Middle  Ages  (Thomas  Aquinas), 
who  deemed  a  heretic,  or  murderer  of  the  soul,  more  worthy  of 
death  than  a  mui'derer  of  the  bod}^,  has  given  way  at  last  to  the 
theory  and  practice  of  toleration  and  liberty. 

The  delusion  of  witchcraft,  wliich  extended  even  to  Puritan 
New  England  and  has  cost  almost  as  many  victims  as  tlie  tri- 
bunals of  the  Inquisition,  has  disap})eared  fi-om  all  Christian 
nations  forever. 

THE  CHintCH  AND  SCIENCE. 

A  few  words  aljout  the  relation  of  tlic  ("liurch  to  natural  and 
physical  science. 

Protestants  and  Catholics  alike  unanimously  rejected  the 
Copcrnican  a.stronomy  as  a  heresy  fatal  to  the  geocentric  ac- 
(tount  of  the  creation,  in  Genesis  ;  but  iifter  a  century  of  opi)osi- 
tion  which  culminated  in  the  condemnati<m  of  Galileo  by  the 
Roman  Luiuisition  under  Urban  VIII.,  they  liave  adopted  it 
without  a  dissenting  voice,  and  "  tlic  eiirtli  still  moves." 

Similar  concessions  wUl  be  made  to  nuHU-rn  geidogy  and  biol- 


THE  CHURCH  AND  SCIENCE. 


37 


ogy,  when  they  have  passed  the  stage  of  conjecture  and  reached  I 
au  agreement  as  to  facts.  The  Bil)le  does  not  determine  the 
age  of  the  earth  or  man,  and  leaves  a  hirge  margin  for  difference 
of  opinion  even  on  purely  exegetical  grounds.  The  theoiy  of 
the  evolution  of  animal  life,  far  from  contradicting  the  fact  of 
creation,  presupposes  it ;  for  every  evolution  must  have  a  be- 
ginning, and  this  can  only  be  accounted  for  by  an  infinite  in- 
telligence and  creative  will.  God's  power  and  wisdom  are  even 
more  wonderful  in  the  continual  process  than  in  a  single  act. 

The  theory  of  historical  development,  which  corresponds  to 
the  theory  of  physical  evolution,  and  preceded  it,  was  first  de- 
nounced l>y  orthodox  divines  (within  my  own  recollection)  as 
a  dangerous  error  leading  to  infidelity,  but  is  now  adopted  by 
every  historian.  It  is  indorsed  by  Christ  himself  in  the  twin 
parables  of  the  mustard-seed  and  the  leaven.  "  First  the  blade, 
then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear,"  this  is  the  or- 
der of  the  unfolding  of  the  Christian  life,  both  in  the  individual 
and  the  Chui'ch.  But  there  is  another  law  of  development 
no  less  important,  which  may  be  called  the  law  of  creative 
headships.  Every  important  intell('(;tual  and  religious  move- 
ment begins  with  a  towering  personality  which  cannot  l)e  ex- 
plained from  antecedents,  but  marks  a  new  epoch.  Take  as 
illustrations:  Moses  and  the  history  of  Israel,  Socrates  and  the 
Greek  philosophers,  Caesar  and  the  Roman  emperors,  Constan- 
tine  the  (ircat  and  the  Byzantiiu!  enijx'rors,  Cliai'lemagne  and 
tlie  German  euqx'rors,  Washington  and  t\u\  Aiiicrican  presi- 
dents, Napoleon  and  liis  generals,  Dante  and  the  Italian  ])oets, 
Shakespeare  and  tli<'  English  poets,  Raphael  and  his  school  of 
painters,  Luther  and  the  Lutheran  divines,  (-alvin  and  the  Re- 
formed divines,  Spener  and  the  Pietists,  Zinz(!ndorf  and  the 
Moravians,  Wesley  and  tin;  Methodi.sts,  and,  above  all,  Jesus 
(!lirist,  who  is  the  gj-eat  ' central  miracle  of  history,  the  begin- 
ning, the  middle,  and  the  end  of  ( 'lii'ist ianity. 


38 


THE  REUNION  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


The  Bible,  we  must  all  acknowledge,  is  not,  and  never  claimed 
to  be,  a  guide  of  chronology',  astronomy,  geology,  or  any  other 
science,  but  solely  a  book  of  religion,  a  rule  of  faith  and  practice, 
a  guide  to  holy  li\'ing  and  dying.  There  is,  therefoi'e,  no  room 
for  a  conflict  between  the  Bible  and  science,  faith  and  reason, 
authority  and  freedom,  the  Church  and  civihzation.  They  vnn 
in  parallel  lines,  independent,  and  yet  friendly  and  mutually 
helpful,  tending  to  the  same  end — the  salvation  and  perfection 
of  man  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

MEANS  OF  PROMOTING  CHRISTIAN  UNION. 

Before  the  reunion  of  Christendom  can  be  accomplished,  we 
must  expect  providential  events,  new  Pentecosts,  new  reforma- 
tions— as  great  as  any  that  have  gone  before.  The  twentieth 
century  has  marvelous  siu'prises  in  store  for  the  Church  and 
the  world,  which  may  sui^pass  even  those  of  the  nineteenth. 
History  now  moves  with  telegi-aphic  speed,  and  may  accomplish 
the  woi'k  of  years  in  a  single  day.  The  modern  inventions  of 
the  steamboat,  the  telegraph,  the  power  of  electricity,  the  prog- 
ress of  science  and  of  international  law  (which  regulates  com- 
merce by  land  and  by  sea,  and  will  in  due  time  make  an  end 
of  war),  link  all  the  civilized  nations  uito  one  vast  brotherhood. 

Let  us  consider  some  of  the  moral  means  by  which  a  similar 
affiliation  and  consolidation  of  the  different  Chiu'ches  may  be 
hastened. 

1.  Tlie  cultivation  of  an  irenic  and  evangelical-catholic  spirit 
in  the  personal  intercoiu'se  with  our  fellow-Christians  of  other 
denominations.  We  must  meet  them  on  common  rather  than 
on  dis])uted  ground,  and  assume  that  they  are  as  honest  and 
earnest  as  we  in  the  pursuit  of  truth.  We  must  make  allow- 
ance for  differences  in  education  and  sun-oundings,  which  to 
a  large  extent  account  for  differences  of  opinion.  Courtesy 


iEEAXS  OF  PROMOTIN'G  CHRISTIAN  UMOX. 


39 


and  kindness  conciliate,  while  suspicion  excites  initation  and 
attack.  Controversy  will  never  cease,  but  the  golden  i-ule  of 
the  most  polemic  among  the  Apostles — to  "  speak  the  tiiith  in 
love " — cannot  be  too  often  repeated.  Xor  should  we  forget 
the  seraphic  description  of  love,  which  the  same  Apostle  com- 
mends above  aU  other  gifts  and  the  tongues  of  men  and  angels 
—yea,  even  above  faith  and  hope. 

2.  Cooperation  in  Chi-istian  and  philantkropic  work  draws 
men  together  and  promotes  then-  mutual  confidence  and  regai'd. 
Faith  without  works  is  dead.  Sentiment  and  talk  about  union 
are  idle  without  actual  manifestation  in  works  of  charity  and 
philanthi-opy. 

3.  Missiouarj'  societies  should  at  once  come  to  a  definite 
agreement,  prohibiting  all  nnitual  interference  in  their  efforts 
to  spread  the  gospel  at  home  and  abroad.  Every  missionaiy 
of  the  cross  should  -wish  and  pray  for  the  prosperity  of  all 
other  missionaries,  and  lend  a  helping  hand  in  trouble. 
"  What  then  ?  only  that  in  ever^-  way,  whether  in  pretense  or 
in  truth,  Christ  is  proclaimed ;  and  therein  I  rejoice,  yea,  and 
will  rejoice." 

It  is  prepo.sterous,  yea,  wicked,  to  trouble  the  minds  of  the 
heathen  or  of  Roman  Cathohcs  with  our  domestic  quarrels,  and 
to  plant  half  a  dozen  rival  Churches  in  small  toAvns,  where 
one  or  two  would  suffice,  thus  sa^-ing  men  and  means.  Un- 
ffnlunately,  the  sectarian  spirit  and  mistaken  zeal  for  peculiar 
\-iews  and  customs  veiy  materially  interfere  with  the  success 
of  (HIT  vast  expenditures  and  efforts  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world. 

4.  The  study  of  Church  histoiy  has  already  been  mentioned 
as  an  important  means  of  coirecting  sectarian  prejudices  and 
increasing  nnitual  appreciation.  The  study  of  symbolit^  or 
(•ojuparative  theologv-  is  one  of  the  most  important  branches  of 
historj'  in  this  respect,  especially  in  our  coniiti-y,  where  profess- 


40 


THE  REUXIOX  OF  CHRLSTEN"DOiL 


ors  of  all  the  creeds  of  Christendom  meet  in  daily  contact,  and 
should  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  one  another. 

5.  One  word  suffices  as  regards  the  duty  and  privilege  of 
prayer  for  Christian  union,  in  the  spirit  of  our  Lord's  sacer- 
dotal prayer,  that  his  disciples  may  all  be  one  in  biTn^  as  he  is 
one  with  the  Father. 

COXC"LU.SIOX.  ' 

"We  welcome  to  the  reunion  of  Christendom  all  denomina- 
tions .which  have  followed  the  divine  Master  and  have  done  his 
work.  Let  us  forgive  and  forget  their  many  sins  and  errors, 
and  remember  only  their  virtues  and  merits. 

The  Greek  Church  is  a  glorious  Church :  for  in  her  language 
have  come  down  to  us  the  oracles  of  God,  the  Septuagint.  the 
GospeLs  and  Epistles ;  hers  are  the  early  confessors  and  mar- 
tyrs, the  Christian  fathers,  bishops,  patriarchs,  and  emperors : 
hers  the  immortal  writings  of  Origen,  Eusebius.  Athanasius. 
and  Chrysostom  -.  hers  the  CEk*umenical  Councils  and  the  Nicene 
Creed,  which  can  never  die. 

The  Latin  Church  is  a  glorious  Church :  for  she  carried  the 
treasures  of  Christian  and  classical  literature  over  the  gulf  of 
the  migration  of  nations,  and  preserved  order  in  the  chaos  of 
civil  wars :  she  was  the  Ahna  'Slater  of  the  barbarians  of  Europe : 
she  turned  painted  savages  into  civilized  ]>eings.  and  worship- 
ers of  idols  into  worshipers  of  Christ ;  she  built  up  the  colossal 
structures  of  the  papal  theocracy,  the  canon  law,  the  monastic 
orders,  the  cathedrals,  and  the  universities ;  she  produced  the 
profound  systems  of  scholastic  and  mystic  theology- ;  she  stim- 
ulated and  patronized  the  Renai.s.'sance.  the  printing-press,  and 
the  discovery  of  a  new  world ;  she  still  stands,  like  an  immov- 
able rock,  bearing  witness  to  the  fundamental  truths  and  facts 
of  our  holy  rehgion,  and  to  the  cathoUcity.  unity,  unbroken 
continuity,  and  independence  of  the  Church :  and  she  is  as 


CONCLUSION. 


41 


zealous  as  ever  in  missionary  enterprise  and  self-denying  works 
of  Cliristian  charity. 

We  hail  the  Reformation  which  redeemed  us  from  the  yoke 
of  spiritual  despotism,  and  secured  us  religious  liberty — ^the 
most  precious  of  all  liberties,  and  made  the  Bible  in  every 
langnage  a  book  for  all  cJasses  and  conditions  of  men. 

The  EvangeUcal  Lutheran  C'hiu'ch,  the  tu-st-born  daughter  of 
the  Reformation,  is  a  glorious  Church :  for  she  set  the  word  of 
God  above  the  traditions  of  men,  and  bore  witness  to  the  com- 
forting truth  of  justification  by  faith  ;  she  stnick  the  keynote 
to  thousands  of  sweet  ln^lms  in  praise  of  the  Redeemer ;  she 
is  boldly  and  reverently  investigating  the  problems  of  faith  and 
philosophy,  and  is  constantly  making  valuable  additions  to 
theological  lore. 

The  Evangelical  Refonned  Church  is  a  glorious  Church :  for 
she  carried  the  Reformation  from  the  Alps  and  lakes  of  Swit- 
zerland "to  the  end  of  the  West"  (to  use  the  words  of  the 
Roman  Clement  about  St.  Paul) ;  she  furnished  more  martjTS 
of  conscience  in  France  and  the  Netherlands  alone,  than  any 
other  Church,  even  during  the  first  three  centuries ;  she  edu- 
cated heroic  races,  like  the  Huguenots,  the  Dutch,  the  Puritans, 
the  Covenanters,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  who  by  the  fear  of  God 
were  raised  above  the  fear  of  tyrants,  iuid  lived  ami  died  for 
the  advancement  of  civil  and  religious  liberty ;  she  is  rich  in 
learning  and  good  works  of  faith  -.  .she  kee])s  ])ace  with  all  true 
progress;  she  grap])les  ^rith  the  in-oblems  and  evil.s  of  modern 
society ;  and  slie  sends  the  gospel  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

The  Episcopal  Church  of  England,  the  most  churehly  of  the 
Reformed  family,  is  a  glorious  Church :  for  she  gave  to  the 
English-speaking  world  the  best  version  of  the  Holy  Scri))tnres 
and  tlie  Ix'st  Prayer-Hook  ;  .she  preserved  the  ordei-  and  dignity 
of  the  ministry  and  public  worshi[)  ;  .she  nursed  the  knowledge 
iiiid  love  of  antiquity,  and  ciiriclifd  the  trcasiiiy  of  Christian 


42 


THE  REOTIOX  OF  CHRISTENDOM. 


literature :  and  by  tlie  Anglo-Catholic  revival  under  the  moral, 
iuteUeetiial,  and  poetic  leadership  of  three  shining  Ughts  of 
Oxford — Piisey,  Newman,  and  Keble — she  infused  new  life 
into  her  institutions  and  customs,  and  prepared  the  way  for  a 
better  understanding  between  Anglicanism  and  Romanism. 

The  Presbyterian  Chru'ch  of  Scotland,  the  most  floimshing 
daiighter  of  Geneva — as  John  Knox,  "who  never  feared  the 
face  of  man,"  was  the  most  faithful  disciple  of  Cahdn — ^is  a 
glorious  Church :  for  she  tm-ned  a  bairen  country  into  a  gar- 
den, and  raised  a  poor  and  semi-barbarous  people  to  a  level 
with  the  richest  and  most  inteUigent  nations :  she  diffused  the 
knowledge  of  the  Bible  and  a  love  of  the  Kirk  in  the  huts  of 
the  peasant  as  well  as  the  palaces  of  the  nobleman ;  she  has 
always  stood  up  for  chui'ch  order  and  discipline,  for  the  rights 
of  the  laity,  and  fii'st  and  last  for  the  crown-rights  of  King 
Jesus,  which  are  above  all  earthly  crowns,  even  that  of  the 
proudest  monarch  in  whose  dominion  the  sun  never  sets. 

The  Congregational  Church  is  a  glorious  Church :  for  she 
has  taught  the  principle,  and  proved  the  capacity,  of  congre- 
gational independence  and  self-government  based  upon  a  U\-ing 
faith  in  Christ,  •without  diminishing  the  effect  of  vohmtary 
cooperation  in  the  Masters  service ;  and  has  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  New  England,  with  its  literary  and  theological  institu- 
tions and  high  social  cultui-e. 

The  Baptist  Cluirch  is  a  glorious  Church  :  for  she  bore,  and 
still  beai-s,  testimony  to  the  primitive  mode  of  baptism,  to  tlic 
purity  of  the  congi'egation,  to  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State,  and  the  liberty  of  conscience  ;  and  has  given  to  the  world 
the  rih/rit»\s  Proffress  of  Bunyan,  such  preachers  as  Robert 
Hall  and  Charles  H.  Spurgeon,  and  such  missionaries  as  Carey 
and  Judsou. 

Tlie  Methodist  Church,  the  Church  of  John  Wesley,  Charles 
Wesley,  and  George  Whitefield — three  of  the  best  and  most 


CONCLUSION. 


43 


apostolic  Englishmen,  abounding  in  useful  labors,  the  first  as  a 
ruler  and  organizer,  the  second  as  a  hynmist,  the  thii-d  as  an 
evangelist — is  a  glorious  Chiu-ch :  for  she  produced  the  great- 
est religious  revival  since  the  day  of  Pentecost ;  she  preaches 
a  free  and  full  salvation  to  aU ;  she  is  never  afraid  to  fight  the 
devil,  and  she  is  hopefully  and  cheerfully  marching  on,  in  both 
hemispheres,  as  an  army  of  conquest. 

The  Society  of  Friends,  though  one  of  the  smallest  tribes  in 
Israel,  is  a  glorious  Society :  for  it  has  borne  witness  to  the 
inner  hght  which  "  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world " ;  it  has  proved  the  superiority  of  the  Spirit  over  aU 
forms ;  it  has  done  noble  service  in  promoting  tolerance  and 
libeiiy,  in  prison  reform,  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  and  other 
works  of  Christian  philanthropy. 

The  Brotherhood  of  the  Moravians,  founded  by  Count 
Zinzendorf — a  tnie  nobleman  of  nature  and  of  gi-ace — is  a 
glorious  Brotherhood  :  for  it  is  the  pioneer  of  heathen  missions, 
and  of  Christian  union  among  Protestant  Chiirches;  it  was 
like  an  oasis  in  the  desert  of  German  rationalism  at  home,  while 
its  missionaries  went  forth  to  the  lowest  savages  in  distant 
lands  to  bring  them  to  Christ.  I  beheld  with  wonder  and 
admiration  a  venerable  Moravian  couple  devoting  their  lives 
to  the  care  of  hopeless  lepei-s  in  tlu;  vicinity  of  Jerusalem. 

Nor  should  we  forget  the  services  of  many  who  are  accounted 
heretics. 

Tlie  Waldenses  were  witnesses  of  a  pui-e  and  simple  faith  in^ 
tiiiics  oF  snpci-stition,  and  having  outlived  many  bloody  perse- 
cutions, now  missionaries  among  the  descendants  of  tlicir 
])<'rs(!('ut()i's. 

The  Anabaptists  and  Sotriniaiis,  wlio  were  so  cruelly  ti'oated 
in  the  sixt(!enth  century  by  Pi-otestants  jind  l^oiuMiiists  alike, 
were  the  first  to  raise  their  voice  t'oi-  religious  lil)er(y  and  the 
voluntary  princii)le  in  religion. 


44 


THE  REUNION  OP  CHRISTENDOM. 


Unitarianism  is  a  serious  departure  from  the  trinitarian 
faith  of  orthodox  Christendom,  hut  it  did  good  ser\dce  as  a 
protest  against  tritheisni,  and  against  a  stiff,  narrow,  and  an- 
charitable  orthodoxy.  It  brought  into  prominence  the  human 
perfection  of  Clu'ist's  character,  and  ilkistrated  the  effect  of 
his  example  in  the  noble  lives  and  devotional  wiitings  of  such 
men  as  Chauuiug  and  Martineau.  It  has  also  given  iis  some 
of  our  purest  and  sweetest  poets,  as  Emerson.  Bryant,  Longfel- 
low, and  Lowell,  whom  aU  good  men  must  honor  and  love  for 
their  lofty  moral  tone. 

Universalism  may  be  condemned  as  a  doctrine ;  but  it  has 
a  right  to  protest  against  a  gi-oss  materiahstic  theory  of  hell 
with  aU  its  Dantesque  hoiTors,  and  against  the  once  widelj- 
spread  popular  belief  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
human  race,  including  countless  millions  of  innocent  infants, 
will  forever  pei-ish.  Nor  should  we  forget  that  some  of  the 
greatest  divines,  from  Origen  and  Gregory  of  Nyssa  down  to 
Bengel  and  Sehleiermaeher,  believed  in,  or  hoped  for,  the  ulti- 
mate retiu-n  of  all  rational  creatures  to  the  God  of  love,  who 
created  them  in  his  own  image  and  for  his  own  gloiy. 

And,  coming  down  to  the  latest  organization  of  Christian 
work,  which  does  not  claim  to  be  a  Cliurcli,  but  which  is  a 
^ '  help  to  aU  Churches, — the  Salvation  Army  :  we  hail  it,  in  spite 
of  its  strange  and  abnormal  metliods,  as  the  most  effective  re- 
vival agency  since  the  days  of  Wesley  and  Wliitefield ;  for  it 
descends  to  the  lowest  depths  of  degi-adation  and  misery,  and 
brings  the  light  and  comfort  of  the  gospel  to  the  slums  of  our 
large  cities.  Let  us  thank  God  for  the  noble  men  and  women 
who,  under  the  insi)iration  of  the  love  of  Cln-ist,  and  unmind- 
ful of  hardslnp,  ridiciile,  and  persecution,  sacrifice  their  lives  to 
the  rescue  of  tlie  hopeless  outcasts  of  society.  Truly,  these 
good  Saiiiai-itaiis  ai-e  an  lunior  to  the  name  of  Christ  and  a 
benediction  to  a  lost  world. 


CONCLUSION. 


45 


There  is  room  for  all  these  iuid  many  otiier  Churches  and 
societies  iji  the  kingdom  of  God,  whose  height  and  depth  and 
length  and  breadth,  vaiiety  and  beauty,  sm-pass  human  com- 
prehension. 

"  O  the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  ■v\'isdom  and  the 
knowledge  of  God !  how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and 
his  ways  past  tracing  out !  For  who  hath  known  the  mind  of 
the  Lord  ?  or  who  hath  been  his  counselor  ?  or  who  hath  first 
given  to  him,  and  it  shall  be  recompensed  unto  liim  again? 
For  of  him,  and  through  him,  and  unto  him,  are  all  things. 
To  him  be  the  glory  forever.  Amen." 


APPENDIX. 


Tms  appendix,  according  to  the  plan  of  Dr.  Schaff,  contains 
expressions  of  opinion  from  representative  divines  on  the  Re- 
union of  Christendom.  They  came  in  response  to  letters  which 
Dr.  Sehaff  sent  out  with  his  own  hand.  Two  or  three  of  the 
replies  are  not  included  here,  as  they  confine  themselves  to 
words  of  personal  appreciation  of  Dr.  Schaff  and  his  work,  as 
is  the  case  with  a  cordial  letter  from  the  Arclibishop  of  Canter- 
bury. In  the  letters  which  follow,  all  personal  references  to 
Dr.  Schaff  and  his  address  have  been  eliminated,  except  where 
they  afford  positive  indication  of  the  writer's  mind  on  tlio 
general  subject.  This  is  in  accordance  with  Dr.  ^chaff's  in- 
structions. 

Dr.  Schaff  suffered  from  a  severe  attack  of  avghia  pectoris 
October  9,  1893,  after  wlii<'li  he  did  not  again  leave  liis  liome. 
On  the  18th  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis,  and  on  the  2Utli 
l)assed  to  his  reward. 

The  paper  on  tlie  Reunion  of  Christendom  was  presenti'd 
in  part  at  the  World's  Parliament  of  Religions,  September  2"), 
1893.  For])i(lden  by  physicians  to  deliver  it  himself,  Dr.  Schatt' 
sat  on  the  platform  while  it  was  being  read  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Simon  J.  MePherson.  Tlie  great  aiulience  i-eeeived  it  with  the 
most  marked  signs  of  a])i)J-obiiti(>n.  The  ))a|)er  was  again  read 
ill  p.-ift  ill  the  congress  held  in  ('liicfigi)  iiii(ier  llic  jiusiiices  (if 
the  Evangelical  Alliance,  by  K'cv.  .luacliiiii  IOIiiicikIoi-I',  D.i). 

47 


48 


APPENDIX. 


Dr.  Schaif,  after  Ms  return  to  New  York  from  the  Parliament 
of  Religious,  was  urged  by  the  officers  of  the  Alliance  to  go 
again  to  Chicago  and  be  present  at  the  reading  of  the  remain- 
der of  his  paper.  Every  comfort  modern  modes  of  travel 
afford  was  assiu'ed  to  him.  After  a  struggle  against  a  strong 
desii'e  once  more  to  show  his  interest  in  the  purposes  and  work 
of  the  Alliance,  by  his  presence  on  that  important  occasion, 
Dr.  Scliaff  reluctantly  dechned,  yielding  to  what  others  assured 
him  were  the  ui-gent  demands  of  his  health. 

The  very  last  labor  which  Dr.  Schaff  gave  to  the  public  was 
upon  this  appendix.  He  may  abnost  be  said  to  have  died  for 
the  cause  of  the  Reunion  of  Chi-istendom.  Dm'iug  the  ten 
days  of  his  last  illness  he  read  a  number  of  the  letters  found 
below,  arranged  them,  and,  with  characteristic  promptness,  sent 
them  to  the  officers  of  the  AUianee  for  the  printer.  In  theu* 
publication  he  felt  an  intense  interest.  "The  prt^paration  of  the 
original  addivss  occupied  his  mind  during  his  smnmer  holidays 
at  Lake  Mohonk,  exacting  much  time  and  sohcitous  cai-e — 
more,  perhaps,  according  to  his  own  statement,  than  he  had 
ever  give;j  to  any  work  before. 

He  was  borne  on  to  go  to  the  ParHament  of  ReUgions  by  his 
interest  in  that  convention,  and  by  his  desii-e  to  be  present  at 
the  reading  of  his  address,  when  he  knew  the  journey  and  the 
excitement  involved  great  risk  to  his  life.  During  his  last 
days  he  distinctly  declared  to  his  family  that  if  he  were  certain 
that  his  work  upon  his  addi-ess  and  his  \'isit  to  the  Parlianu'ut 
of  Religions  had  brought  on  his  sickness  and  should  hasten 
his  death,  he  still  was  glad  that  he  had  done  what  he  did.  The 
Reunion  of  Christendoin,  therefore,  was  not  only  the  last  ser- 
vice Dr.  Schaff  did  for  the  Church,  it  was  the  last  interest  t)f  a 
public  natm-e  that  engaged  his  nund  and  heart. 

The  statement,  since  Dr.  Schaff's  death,  of  the  veteran  editor. 
Dj-.  Bright,  of  "  The  Examiner,"  a  cliief  organ  of  the  American 


APPENDIX. 


49 


Baptist  churches,  is  perhaps  not  unmerited  eulog^^ :  "  Philip 
Schaff  did  more  than  any  other  man  of  his  time  to  promote 
Christian  unity." 

Anglimn. 

I  have  also  wTitten  a  paper  for  the  Parliament  of  Religions,  and  what  I 
have  said,  if  compared  with  what  you  have  said,  would  he  the  best  criti- 
cism on  yom-  views.  I  have  found  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing,  to  dissent 
from  in  your  very  comprehensive  statement ;  but  you  will  see,  if  you  look 
into  mine,  that  I  look  for  union  mainly  in  the  redressing  of  the  balance  of 
Christian  interest,  in  la3ang  less  stress  on  public  worship  and  its  adjuncts 
of  formulated  doctrine  and  ritual  and  clerical  organization,  and  much 
more  on  the  conduct  of  life  in  the  family,  the  municipality,  and  the  state. 
When  we  work  together  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  each  section  can  honor 
the  others,  as  your  conclusion  recommends,  and  the  beneficent  changes 
which  you  trace  historically  on  pages  31  to  38  will  reach  their  consum- 
mation. 

W.  H.  Fremantle. 
ICanon  of  Canterbury.] 

Canterbury,  Sept.  2!),  1893. 
Anyliean. 

I  was  at  both  the  Reunion  conferences  at  Bonn,  by  Dr.  Dollinger's 
invitation,  and  it  was  at  the  second  of  them  that  I  first  saw  you.  The 
Reunion  movement  has  spread  and  intensified  greatly  during  the  eighteen 
years  which  have  elapsed  since  then.    We  need  not  fear  that  it  will  stop. 

I  believe  Reunion  will  come  with  a  rush  at  last,  like  a  consuming  fire 
in  well-prepared  fuel.    It  is  our  part  to  see  that  the  fuel  m  prepared. 

Like  most  great  movements,  it  will  probably  1)egin  from  below ;  with 
the  laity  rather  than  the  clergy  ;  with  the  Protestant  diurches  rather  than 
with  Easterns  or  Romans.    We  ought  to  aim  at  this.  Non-Episcopalian 
bodies  ought  to  unite  and  then  endeavor  to  come  to  terms  with  Episcopa- 
lian Protestant  churches.    If  Protestant  churches  were  united,  and  Episco-  . 
pacy  adopted  as  the  more  excellent  way  for  the  future,  we  might  then  V 
!ipl)r(>Mch  the  Eastern  churches,  wliich  are  already  beginning  to  admit  '• 
light  from  the  West;  and  jterhaps  at  last  even  Rome  wouhl  accept  some- 
thing less  than  submission.    But  all  this  means  centuries  of  prayer  and 
work. 


50 


APPENDIX. 


I  often  repeat  to  myself,  and  sometimes  to  others,  two  sayings  of  Bol- 
linger's. The  first  is  this  :  That  we  ought  to  make  the  very  most  that  we 
can  of  the  all-important  points  about  which  nearly  all  Christians  are 
agi-eed,  and  the  very  least  that  we  can  of  the  comparatively  imimportant 
points  about  which  we  differ.  That  seems  to  be  almost  a  truism;  but 
how  many  Christians  behave  on  exactly  the  opposite  principle ! 

The  second  is  this.  People  sometimes  ask,  "But  do  you  seriously 
believe  that  the  Eeunion  of  Christendom  is  possible  ?  "  To  this  DoUinger 
long  ago  replied,  "Es  muss  ja  moglich  sein,  denn  es  ist  Pflicht.'' 

Never  did  the  Kantian  principle,  "We  ought,  therefore  we  can,"  come 
home  to  me  so  forcibly  as  in  that  striking  application  of  it.  We  ought  to 
be  reunited ;  therefore  it  can  be  done.  This  is  the  right  antidote  for  the 
pessimism  which  would  tell  us  that  a  reunited  Christendom  is  the  dream 
of  enthusiasts  and  that  to  spend  time  in  working  for  it  is  sheer  waste. 

Our  blessed  Lord  was  not  wasting  time  when  he  prayed  that  they  all 
may  be  one  ;  and  we  shall  not  be  wasting  time  when  we  pray  and  work  for 
this  end. 

Alfred  Plummer. 
\_Professor  University  College,  Durham.'^ 

DuEHAM,  Oct.  16,  1893. 
Baptist. 

The  Reunion  of  Christendom  is  the  overshadowing  problem  of  modem 
ecclesiology.  How  shall  this  Reunion  be  effected?  Not  by  decreeing 
uniformity  of  outward  organization :  this  is  the  mistake  of  the  Church  of 
Rome.  Not  by  abolishing  denominations  :  this  is  to  overlook  the  sublime 
truth  of  diversities  in  unity.  Not  by  compromising  principle  :  this  is  to 
be  false  to  man  and  God.  But  by  carrying  out  God's  own  principle  of 
comprehension,  soaring  high  enough  to  include  diversities,  even  as  God's 
own  sky  includes  ocean  and  forest,  valley  and  moimtain,  sun  and  flower. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  each  denomination,  in  rearing  its  own  ecclesiastical 
structure,  works  selectively,  and  builds  on  the  remembrance  of  certain 
Scriptures  which  it  regards  as  favorable,  and  on  the  oblivion  of  certain 
other  Scriptures  which  it  regards  as  unfavorable ;  equally  skilled  in  the 
art  of  remembering  and  in  the  art  of  forgetting.  .  .  .  Each  sect  errs,  not 
so  much  in  what  it  believes,  as  in  what  it  ignores.  The  coming  ideal 
church  will  be  built,  not  on  a  selection  of  Scriptures,  but  on  the  Bible  in 
its  wholeness. 


APPENDIX. 


51 


This  idea  of  comprehension  is  the  modern  contribution  to  eeclesiology. 
The  old  method  was  to  search  for  similarities ;  the  new  method  is  to 
recognize  diversities.  The  Church's  true  policy  here  is  not  rejection,  but 
adjustment ;  not  insistence,  but  assistance  ;  not  as  John,  who  cried,  "  For- 
bid," but  as  Jesus,  who  replied,  "Welcome."  O  ye  Christian  sectarians, 
ye  who  are  dwelling  in  dark  glens  of  denominationalism,  ye  who,  like 
Elijah  in  his  cave,  imagine  that  ye  alone  are  Jehovah's  true  prophets,  ye 
who  live  in  the  hamlet  of  your  sect  and  "think  the  rustic  cackle  of  your 
burg  the  murmur  of  the  world,"  come  out  into  the  sunlight  of  God's  open 
country  and  see  how  vast  is  the  dome  of  his  own  .sky. 

Comprehension  is  the  irenic  policy  of  Christendom.  This  is  the  grand 
meaning  of  the  Parliament  of  Religions. 

George  Dana  Boardman. 
^Pastor  First  Baptist  Church,  Fhiladelphia.'] 

Chicago,  Sept.  24,  1893. 


Baptist. 

I  am  in  thorough  sympathy  with  the  spirit  and  sentiments  of  your  ad- 
dress. If  the  great  evangelical  denominations  would  act  on  the  principle 
of  comity,  it  would  be  an  easy  matter  for  them  to  send  an  immediate 
reinforcement  of  sixteen  thousand  men  to  the  heathen  world,  so  that  there 
might  be  one  minister  to  every  fifty  thousand  pagans.  One  duty,  and  that 
of  paramount  importance,  as  clear  to  our  minds  as  if  it  were  written  on 
the  heavens  in  words  of  fire,  is  this :  that  the  evangelical  churches  ought 
to  emphasize  strongly  all  points  of  doctrinal  agreement  and  all  methods  of 
Christian  work  in  which  they  can  unite,  presenting  a  united  front  to  the 
enemies  of  God.  ...  In  such  a  war  as  this  we  are  fighting  with  the  com- 
bined pbwers  of  "the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil."  Shall  we  not,  all 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Clirist,  stand  together  in  the  closest  relations  possible, 
help  each  other  heartily  on  the  march  and  in  the  deadly  assault,  cheer 
each  other  amid  the  (ire  and  storm  of  battle,  knowing  that  the  Leader  is 
one,  the  amiy  one,  the  foe  one,  the  final  triumph  one,  the  eteriuil  glory 
one — tlio  glory  <luo  unto  Him  who  is  "  worthy  to  receive  the  power,  and 
riches,  and  wisdom,  and  might,  and  honor,  and  blessing  "T 

GeORHE  W.  NoRTIIRfP. 

[In  the  University  of  Chwayo.] 

Chicago,  Oct.  14,  1893. 


52 


APPENDIX. 


Congregational. 

I  rejoice  to  trace  in  your  pamphlet  the  deep  foundation  upon  which 
yoiu'  entire  historical  superstructure  has  been  reared.  Christendom  is 
not  one  important  organization  supposed  to  be  invested  with  supernatural 
authority  and  to  dominate  the  conscience  or  direct  the  eoimcils  and  eon- 
duct  of  mankind.  .  .  .  Christendom  is  the  dominion  exercised  by  Christ 
over  human  souls,  whatever  be  the  accidental  form  by  which  they  have 
been  brought  into  conscious  sun-ender  to  the  living  Lord.  All  who  deeply 
realize  theu"  sonship  in  Christ  must,  whether  they  realize  it  or  not,  and 
even  in  spite  of  their  outspoken  repudiation  of  it,  be  brothers  and  are  one 
in  Christ.  A  thousand  facts  go  to  prove  that  this  solidarity  of  Christians, 
this  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God,  is  advancing  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
The  feeling  of  brotherhood  is  stronger  than  the  anathemas  or  barriers  or 
limitations  that  apparently  endeavor  to  stem  its  glorious  tide. 

I  value  very  much  your  vindication  of  the  advantages  that  have  com- 
pensated the  e'N'ils  of  organic  divisions,  and  the  noble  enumeration  of  the 
claims  of  the  separate  churches  to  the  gratitude  of  Christendom,  and  I  am 
much  impressed  by  the  proof  you  have  given  that  the  kindred  drops  are 
indeed  blending  into  one  on  all  sides  of  us.  Blood  is  stronger  than  water. 
The  spirit  is  mightier  than  the  letter  or  the  flesh.  The  true  Christendom 
is  united.  It  has  taken  millenniums  to  bring  about  even  a  partial  belief 
in  the  unity  of  the  human  race.  It  may  take  centuries  before  Chiistian 
believers  know  that  they  are  one  in  Christ. 

Meanwhile,  you  have  pointed  out  the  one,  the  only,  the  spiritual  way 
in  which  we  aU  may  contribute  our  share  to  the  great  consummation. 
Your  brochure,  if  it  be  a  late  fruit  of  an  old  tree,  is  sweet  and  fi'agrant 
and  full  of  the  seeds  of  life  and  love. 

Henry  Robert  Reynolds. 
[rresidoit  Cheshunt  CoUcgc.'\ 
Cheshunt  College,  England,  October,  1893. 

Congregatioiud. 

Dr.  Schafif  says  in  his  admirable  essay  that  "dead  orthodoxy  is  as  bad 
as  heresy,  or  evpn  worse."  General  Armstrong  says,  with  no  less  senten- 
tiousness,  "  Cantankerousness  is  worse  than  heresy."  These  are  two  con- 
trasted e\-ils.  Dead  ortlio<loxy  is,  as  Dr.  Schaff  says,  with  a  certain  touch 
of  Hibemicism,  "a  sterile  mother."    It  produces  no  denominations,  while 


APPENDIX. 


53 


cantankerousness,  which  may  be  conscientiousness  gone  mad,  is  responsi- 
ble for  nearly  every  division  of  Christendom. 

Dr.  Schaff  tells  us  that  "  denominationalism  is  a  blessing ;  sectarianism 
is  a  curse."  The  latter  statement  is  true,  but  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  the 
former  is  true.  It  would  be  true  if  the  multiplication  of  denominations 
were  the  necessary  result  of  freedom  and  activity  of  thought.  Free  active 
thought,  plus  intolerance,  means  sects ;  and  their  poisonous  atmosphere  is 
sectarianism.  But  thought  may  be  free  and  active  without  intolerance, 
and  without  the  production  of  sects  or  denominations.  The  Latin  Church 
has  had  its  periods  of  active  thought  with  very  little  division.  The  Angli- 
can Church  is  very  nearly  "a  sterile  mother,"  because  she  has  tolerated 
and  not  driven  out  her  schools  of  thought.  Among  his  various  "  families 
of  denominations  "  in  his  classifications  Dr.  Carroll  mentions  no  Congrega- 
tional family,  simply  because  in  its  Christian  tolerance  Congregationalism 
has  not  been  a  mother  of  any  evangelical  sects.  Denominations  have  been 
necessary  chiefly  because  Christians  would  not  tolerate  Christian  differ- 
ences. If  now  they  have  begun  to  learn  to  tolerate  them,  that  is  not 
merely  a  reason  why  they  should  be  affectionate  to  each  other,  but  why 
they  should  as  far  as  possible  form  organic  unions.  I  think  it  is  chiefly 
from  a  fear  of  hurting  the  sensitive  self-love  of  the  denominations  that 
Dr.  Schaff  presses  the  first  stage  of  mutual  esteem  rather  than  that  of 
self-effacement  by  organic  imion.  The  example  for  us  now  is  that  of  the 
two  great  Presbyterian  bodies  in  1869,  or  the  Canadian  Methodists  in  1874, 
or  the  later  union  of  half  a  dozen  Reformed  mission  bodies  in  Japan. 

So  far  from  the  doctrinal  differences  being  the  chief  obstacle,  they  are, 
within  Protestantism,  the  least.  It  ought  to  be  easy  to  unite  all  Pi"otestant 
Evangelical  denominations  in  this  country  into  half  a  dozen  bodies;  but 
the  chief  difficulty  will  come  after  that,  in  the  differences  in  ecclesiastical 
government.  It  is  my  profound  conviction  that  the  time  is  now  ripe  for 
the  work  of  ecclesiastical  statesmen  who  will  give  themselves  to  carrying 
out  the  work  for  which  Dr.  Schaff  has  really  laid  the  foundations — that  of 
uniting  our  denominations,  where  possible,  by  organic  union,  and,  where 
that  is  delaye<l,  in  the  bands  of  mutual  recognition  and  iiffcctioii. 

I  regard  Dr.  Schaff's  "The  Reunion  of  Christendom"  as  something 
more  than  a  magnificent  dnuim.  It  is  a  noble  conception,  full  of  rich 
suggestions  and  fruitful  liopcs,  and  nowhor<>  more  valuubh'  and  instruc- 
tive than  in  its  characterization  of  the  Liitiii  and  Oriental  churches.  Tlie 
Greek  Church  and  especially  llie  Arniinian  Church  are  ra[)idly  becoming 


54 


APPENDIX. 


what  we  would  call  Protestantized.  Our  missionaries  in  Turkey  are  now 
carefully  reconsidering  the  question  whether  they  should  not  cease  to 
work  outside  of  them,  and  work  within  them.  The  Roman  Church  feels 
the  same  influence  of  the  age.  It  is  a  very  different  church  here  from 
what  it  is  in  South  America.  I  admire  Dr.  Schaff's  last  chapter,  in  which 
he  describes  one  by  one  the  Greek  Church,  the  Latin  Church,  and  the 
gi'eat  divisions  of  Protestantism,  calling  each  "a  glorious  church,"  and 
looks  forward  to  the  large  consummated  union  which  shall  embrace  them 
all.  "William  Hayes  "Ward. 

[Editor  Neic  York  " Independent. "'\ 

New  York,  1893. 


Evangelical  Union  {Prussian). 

My  own  opinion  concerning  the  great  question  treated  by  you  is  not  of 
importance,  for  I  have  meditated  on  the  matter  too  little.  So  much  I  am 
sure  of,  that  with  their  present  organization  the  Protestant  churches  can 
negotiate  with  no  one,  for  they  are  now  passing  through  a  crisis,  and  if 
they  come  out  of  it  successfully  they  will  assume  new  forms  of  life  and 
doctrine.    Then  we  may  be  able  to  negotiate. 

A.  Harnack. 
IProfessor  of  Church  History, 
University  of  Berlin.'\ 

Berlin,  Oct.  5,  1893. 


Imtheran. 

In  securing  the  interest  and  ultimate  cooperation  of  the  different  forms 
of  Christianity  with  one  another,  no  more  effectual  mode  can  be  employed 
than  the  comprehensive,  thorough,  and  discriminative  study  of  church 
history.  All  the  divisions  of  Christianity  are  rooted  in  historical  ante- 
cedents extending  far  back  into  the  past.  Schemes  of  Reunion  which 
lose  sight  of  those  historical  antecedents  are  necessarily  only  transient. 

Confessional  differences  aie  not  to  be  avoided,  but  to  be  candidly  faced 
and  dispassionately  judged  in  the  liglit  of  God's  "Word  and  their  historical 
development.  Systems  must  be  judged  negatively  as  well  as  positively. 
"We  must  warn  against  errors,  as  well  as  thankfully  recognize  the  elements 


APPENDIX. 


55 


of  truth  with  which  they  are  connected,  if  we  hope  for  any  permanent 
results  from  our  efforts. 

H.  E.  Jacobs. 
[^Professor  of  Theology,  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Seminary,  Philadelphia.'] 

Mount  Airy,  Oct.  16,  1893. 
I/utheran. 

I  heartily  assent  to  the  thoughts  about  Reunion  as  far  as  they  concern 
our  Protestant  denominations,  and  also  the  Greek  Chui-eh,  from  which  I 
hope,  at  least,  for  the  best. 

On  the  other  hand,  so  far  as  concerns  the  Roman  Church  I  must  declare 
that  so  far  as  she  stands  forth  officially  as  a  church  must  we  decline  com- 
munion with  her.  For  she  herself  insists  upon  our  absolute  exclusion 
from  the  communion  of  Christ  and  his  body,  and  makes  such  commimion 
dependent  upon  a  condition  which  in  truth  is  antichristian,  namely,  our 
subjection  to  her  pope,  and  the  subordination  of  Christ  to  him. 

It  is  true,  you  say  on  page  28,  '■  What  if  the  pope,"  etc. ;  but  that  would 
mean  nothing  less  than  that  the  pope  should  no  longer  be  head  of  the 
church  in  the  sense  hitherto  accepted — the  infallible,  xmconditional  head 
of  all  the  baptized  (compare  the  words  of  Pius  IX.,  "Herzog,"  vol.  vii., 
p.  708),  who  forfeit  Christian  communion  in  case  of  disobedience  to  him. 
Very  true ;  (/'  the  pope  ceases  to  be  the  pope  he  is,  and  the  Roman  Church 
to  be  the  church  she  is,  we  may  seek  communion  with  her.  But  as  mat- 
ters are,  we  may  seek  communion  only  with  her  individual  members,  who 
are  not  altogether  conscious  of  the  principle  of  their  church,  which  ex- 
cludes us  from  communion  with  tliem,  and  whose  liearts  are  open  to  the 
operation  of  the  pure  Word  of  God.  Aud  we  must  fear  witlial  in  regard 
to  them  that  tlieir  church  will  always  endeavor  to  arouse  this  consciou.s- 
ness,  or  will  make  them  suffer  bitterly  for  the  fraternal  relations  into 
which  they  enter  with  us. 

I  must  also  recall  the  historical  development.  Tliis,  in  the  case  of  all 
the  Protestant  denominations,  has  evidently  led  to  this  result,  that  above 
all  their  various  peculiarities  and  the  differences  by  which  they  are  in  the 
opinion  of  some  liopelessly  divided,  the  comnioii  Christian  and  evangelical 
principle  prevailed;  whilp  in  the  case  of  Roman  Catholicism  if  has  led  to 
this  result,  that  more  and  more  unchristian  elements  and  principles  devel- 
oped themselves  and  forced  themselves  into  view,  so  that  whatever  antag- 


56 


APPENDIX. 


onized  these  must  be  destroyed  (as  witness  the  Jansenists  and  the  old 
Catholics).  To  that  which  was  glorious  in  the  past  of  this  church  her 
present  character  is  so  antagonistic,  that  until  she,  as  a  chui-ch,  turns 
right  around,  I  can  find  no  union  with  her  possible.  If  in  America  an- 
other opinion  is  held  about  her  in  Protestant  circles,  I  can  only  explain  it 
on  the  ground  that  Eome  there  in  its  public  declarations  is  more  cautious, 
and  holds  in  the  background  her  demands  and  her  consequences. 

J.  KOSTLIN. 

{Professor  of  Theology,  University  of  Salle.} 

Halle,  Oct.  1,  1893. 
Lutheran. 

Although  I  heartily  agree  with  the  irenic  tendency  of  your  pamphlet, 
"The  Reunion  of  Christendom,"  and  although  I  regard  as  altogether  true 
its  fundamental  thought,  which  you  develop  with  brilliant  comprehensive- 
ness, namely,  the  thought  that  the  march  of  time  has  already  brought, 
with  it  an  approach  of  the  Christian  chm-ches  one  to  another,  especially 
of  the  Protestant  churches,  and  will  bring  it  in  an  increasing  degree,  still 
I  am  not  able  to  identify  my  views  about  the  subject  entirely  with  yours. 

The  Church  of  Chi'ist  has  never  been  externally  a  unit,  and,  in  my 
opinion,  never  will  be,  so  long  as  the  earth  remains.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  belief  that  all  true  Christians  form  a  societas  fidei  is  older  than  all 
external  churehdora.  It  exists  to-day  in  spite  of  all  divisions,  and  can  be 
held  the  more  easily  just  because  of  the  increase  in  the  number  of  the 
denominations.  An  external  unity  in  the  creeds  is,  as  I  believe,  of  very 
little  worth.  Of  what  significance  is  the  common  acceptance  of  tlie  Apos- 
tles' Creed  between  us  and  Rome  ?  Has  not  the  Apostles'  Creed  ceased  to 
be  an  official  church  creed  in  Switzei'land?  And  do  we  not  stand  nearer 
to  many  Protestant  Christians  who  do  not  subscribe  to  the  Apostles' 
Creed  in  all  details  than  we  do  to  its  Roman  champions? 

A  unity  in  certain  particulars  is,  it  is  true,  most  m'gently  to  be  desired 
— as,  for  example,  an  understanding  about  the  divisions  of  missionary 
territory — and  this  will  be  realized  more  and  more  just  in  tlie  degi-ee  in 
which  theology  and  experience  teach  Protestant  Christians  that  it  is  the 
soul's  trust  in  Christ  alone  which  makes  the  Christian.  The  Roman 
Churcli,  as  such,  it  is  true,  will  not  enter  into  any  sucli  union.  Just  as 
certainly  as  I  believe  that  there  are  even  under  the  pope  genuine  Chris- 
tians— Christians  who  belong  to  tlie  Ciia  Saucta  EccUsia — am  I  convinced 


APPENDIX. 


57 


that  Rome,  yea,  that  the  pope,  is  the  most  formidable  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  an  external  union  of  all  Christendom,  even  in  the  most  modest  degree. 

Yea,  it  is  just  in  eonneetion  with  the  thought  developed  by  you  that  it 
is  proved  that,  in  spite  of  its  untenableness,  the  opinion  of  our  fathers 
contains  an  important  truth  that  the  pope  was  Antichrist. 

F.  LooFS. 
{Professor  of  Church  Historrj 
Halle,  Oct.  24,  1893.  in  the  University  of  Halle.] 

Methodist  Episcopal. 

I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  pamphlet  on  "The  Reunion  of 
Christendom."  For  completeness  of  statement  and  breadth  of  vievi  I 
regard  it  unsurpassed.  It  covers  the  whole  ground.  I  would  suggest  no 
change  but  one,  and  that  is  a  fuller  treatment  of  the  different  parts ;  but  I 
know  your  limitations  prevented  this. 

John  F.  Hurst. 
Washington,  Oct.  10,  1893.  [Bishop.] 

Presbytpriun. 

Your  paper  on  "  The  Reunion  of  Christendom  "  was  one  of  the  great 
events  of  the  Parliament.  How  strong  and  constant  are  the  forces,  "  sure 
as  the  sun,  medicinal  as  light,"  which  are  sweetening  and  widening  men's 
thoughts  and  feelings  and  drawing  human  hearts  together !  We  are  all 
in  the  gulf-.stream  of  divine  influences.  The  power  that  draws  our  civili- 
zation nearer  to  Christ  is  drawing  Christian  hearts  closer  to  each  other. 
How  heart-breaking  are  the  alienations  of  the  past !  How  heart-lifting 
are  the  strong  Christian  fraternities  of  the  present !  Reunion  will  not  be 
the  work  of  ecclesiastical  mechanics;  it  will  be  the  work  of  the  I)i\'ine 
Poet,  God  himself,  who  is  breathing  over  his  church  and  evoking  har- 
monies that  have  always  slumljered  there. 

Since  the  Parliament  of  Religions  has  ])roved  that  for  seventeen  days 
("hristians,  Jews,  Mohammedans,  Uuddhists,  ('onfucians,  I'arsees,  Hrali- 
nians,  Jains,  Taoists,  and  Sliintoists  may  fraternally  meet  in  peaceful 
cojiference,  (Jhristians  should  be  more  than  ever  ashamcMl  of  foolish  and 
selfish  and  wicked  H('i)arationH,  the  legacies  of  darker  times.  No  jiefty 
getting  together  of  little  I'rotestant  sects  will  satisfy  the  world-wide  crav- 
ings for  Christian  unity.    The  inoMcni  Unit  is  now  to  be  solved  is  one 


58 


APPENDIX. 


that  concerns  all  the  great  churches,  and  the  Spirit  of  Him  who  prayed 
for  the  oneness  of  his  disciples  will  continue  working  until  He  has  subdued 
— ^by  love,  by  enlightenment,  by  setting  before  regenerate  minds  the  sin 
and  weakness  of  schisms — all  things  unto  himself. 

John  Henky  Barrows. 
[Pastor  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Chicago.'^ 
Chicago,  III.,  September,  1893. 

Presbyterian. 

I  have  great  confidence  in  the  ultimate  accomplishment  of  the  ideal  of 
Christendom  as  expressed  in  the  prayer  of  our  Lord  and  in  the  teachings 
of  the  apostles.  The  existing  unity  is  vastly  greater  than  any  one  could 
suppose,  if  he  limited  his  attention  to  the  superficial  discord  of  Christen- 
dom. The  concord  of  Christendom  is  not  on  the  surface,  but  it  is  in  the 
foundations  and  in  the  greater  part  of  the  structure  of  historical  Christi- 
anity. .  .  .  The  Reunion  of  Christendom,  in  my  opinion,  means  something 
more  than  voluntary  associations  or  confederations.  .  .  . 

I  beg  leave  to  take  a  more  hopeful  view  of  the  quadrilateral  of  the 
Lambeth  Conference.  As  you  say,  the  only  serious  difficulty  is  the  "his- 
toric episcopate."  But  if  the  "  historic  episcopate"  means  nothing  more 
than  the  historic  institution  stripped  of  all  theories  as  to  the  origin  and 
meaning  of  that  institution,  so  that  every  man  may  have  his  own  theory 
of  institution,  so  long  as  he  is  willing  to  hold  to  the  institution — and  this 
is  what  this  phrase  means  according  to  the  best  Episcopal  authorities — if, 
furthermore,  Presbyterians  and  Congregationalists  have  abandoned  the 
theories  of  the  divine  right  of  their  forms  of  church  government,  and  are 
willing  to  adopt  that  form  of  church  government  which  has  the  best  his- 
toric right  and  the  best  practical  value,  then  it  seems  to  me  there  ought 
to  be  no  serious  difficulty  in  the  "  historic  episcopate,"  especially  as  it  is 
distinctly  proposed  that  it  should  be  "locall;/  adapted  in  *he  methods  o/  i'te 
administration  to  the  varyiiig  needs  of  the  nations  and  peoples  called  of  God 
into  the  unity  of  his  church." 

For  a  locally  adapted  episcopate  would  remove  from  it  all  these  ex- 
crescences, which  were  so  objectionable  to  our  Puritan,  Reformed,  and 
Lutheran  sires ;  it  would  not  only  reduce  it  to  the  form  of  sjTiodical  gov- 
ernment, which  was  advocated  by  Archbishop  Ussher  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  which  was  acceptable  to  the  Presbyterians  of  that  period, 


APPENDIX. 


59 


but  it  would  still  further  reduce  it  so  as  to  assume  whatever  is  of  essential 
importance  in  the  other  existing  forms  of  church  government,  and  so 
realize  the  idea  of  Richard  Baxter,  "  Select  out  of  aU  three  the  best  part, 
and  leave  the  worst,"  and  so  obtain  "the  most  desirable  (and  ancient) 
form  of  government."  The  "historic  episcopate,"  reduced  to  its  simplest 
dimensions  as  an  institution,  is  the  contribution  of  the  Episcopal  churches 
to  the  final  form  of  Christianity.  It  cannot  be  further  reduced  without 
abandoning  the  Episcopal  form  of  government  altogether.  Presbyterians 
and  Congregationalists  should  vie  with  the  Episcopalians  in  reducing 
Presbyterianism  and  Congregationalism  to  their  last  analysis  and  their 
essential  elements  in  order  to  the  Reimion  of  Christendom.  .  .  . 

The  Reunion  of  Christendom  will  come  through  a  great  variety  of  con- 
straining influences.  So  far  as  possible,  the  ecclesiastical  organizations 
should  remove  their  fences  and  barriers  and  invite  to  Reunion.  If  I  am 
not  mistaken,  the  greater  portion  of  these  fences  and  barriers  consist  of 
matters  not  regarded  as  of  any  essential  importance  in  the  organizations 
which  have  erected  them.  Many  of  them  are  antiquated  manners  and 
customs,  which  would  have  been  removed  long  ago  were  it  not  for  a  hesi- 
tation to  destroy  venerated  traditions.  But  no  traditions,  however  venera- 
ble,, no  customs,  however  ancient,  no  matters  of  ritual,  canon,  or  doctrine, 
however  important,  should  obstruct  the  Reunion  of  ChristeTidom  and  the 
attainment  of  the  supreme  ideal  of  Christ's  church,  unless  it  be  essential 
to  the  existence  or  welfare  of  that  church.  This  principle  will  ere  long 
be  adopted  as  a  working  principle,  and  its  influence  will  be  irresistible  in 
leading  on  to  church  unity.  .  .  . 

It  is  necessary  that  the  essential  things  should  be  limited  to  the  great 
verities  in  which  all  the  gi-eat  historic  churches  are  in  concord.  Every 
denomination  should  follow  the  wise  example  of  the  Lambeth  Conference 
and  invite  all  others  to  union  on  the  basis  of  this  principle.  In  time  some- 
thing of  this  sort  will  be  done.  The  mother-churches  will  one  after  an- 
other remove  the  bans  which  excluded  the  daughters  from  the  ancestral 
home,  and  invite  them  to  return  without  any  other  conditions  tlian  the 
common  cutholic  faith  and  practice  of  the  historic  churches  relieved  of  all 
impediments.  The  daughters  will  not  be  able  to  resist  the  invitation. 
The  genealogical  principle  will  work  with  irresistible  jwwer,  and  modem 
ecclesiaHti(;al  organizations  will  ultimately  lie  absorbed  in  the  most  ancient 
organizations  after  they  have  been  reformed,  purified,  and  sanctitied. 
And  so  the  Church  of  Christ  will  renew  her  youth  und  her  virgin  vigor. 


60 


APPENDIX. 


and  a  reunited  Christendom  will  speedily  reconcile  the  world  to  Christ, 
and  the  bridegroom  will  rejoice  in  his  sanctified,  beautified,  and  glorified 
bride. 

C.  A.  Briggs. 
^Professor  of  Biblical  Literature, 
Union  Theological  Seminary. 'i 

New  York,  Oct.  18,  1893. 
Presbyteridn. 

I  have  for  years  felt  most  deeply  on  this  subject.  The  revelation  of  the 
last  census  moved  me  to  preach  a  series  of  sermons,  afterward  printed, 
vmder  the  title  of  "  Denominationalism.''  The  sole  point  in  which  I  feel 
constrained  to  differ  from  you  is  that  I  am  unable  to  accord  with  all  you 
say  in  praise  of  denominations  (pp.  8-12).  The  many  sounds  in  harmony 
and  the  many  flowers  in  a  garden  do  not  fight  each  other,  but  strive 
together  for  a  common  end  of  beauty  and  utility. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  wastefulness  in  money  and  men  of  denomina- 
tionalism is  only  excelled  by  the  harm  that  sharp  and  too  often  unchristian 
competition  does  to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 

You  have  pointed  out  most  clearly  the  historical  patli  toward  Reunion, 
and  no  one  can  fail  to  see  its  beauty  and  practicability.  It  must  attract 
every  student  of  history.  Meanwhile,  what  can  pastors  do  to  promote 
what  it  seems  to  me  must  be  the  greatest  work  of  the  new  century,  now  so 
near? 

I.  "We  must  realize  ourselves  the  vast  e\als  of  present  divisions,  and  try 
to  make  our  congregations  realize  them.  ...  2.  Be  (Christians  first  and 
sectarians  second.  3.  Cherish  and  cultivate  a  charity  that  will  not  tliink 
less  of  others'  sincerity  and  piety  because  they  dift'er  from  us  in  opinion. 
4.  We  must  be  willing  to  see  the  cause  of  Christ  gi'ow,  even,  if  need  be, 
at  the  cost  of  loss  to  our  own  denomination,  o.  Mingle  more  freely  with 
Christians  of  other  names.  Acquaintance  will  soon  convince  us  that  they 
are  equally  loyal  disciples  with  ourselves  of  our  common  Lord. 

Tkunis  S.  Hammn. 
[Pastor  Cliurcli  of  the  Covenant,  Haxhini/ton.] 

Washington,  Sept.  20,  1893. 

PreJihiftcridti. 

I  thank  you  lieartily  for  tlie  paper  on  "The  Reunion  of  Christendom," 
not  merely  for  its  catliolic  spirit,  which  characterizes  all  your  jiublic  utter- 


APPENDIX. 


61 


anees,  but  also  for  its  comprehensive  survey  of  the  whole  ecclesiastical 
situation.  Such  a  survey  is  much  needed,  in  order  to  bring  before  us  all 
the  state  of  the  great  problem;  and  no  one  could  be  more  competent  for 
such  a  survey  than  the  author  of  the  "  Church  History "  and  of  "  The 
Creeds  of  Christendom."  If  the  survey  suggests  a  formidable  array  of 
diflBculties  in  the  question,  yet  I  cannot  see  that  you  have  overstated 
them.  Certainly  nothing  would  be  gained  by  ignoring  or  slighting 
them.  They  must  be  frankly  met,  and  adjusted  with  Christian  charity 
and  wisdom. 

I  am  glad  that  you  advocate  a  "Eeimion  of  Christendom,"  as  if  iniph'- 
ing  that  its  existing  churches  or  ecclesiastical  elements  should  be  recom- 
bined  in  one  harmonious  system.  For  this  purpose  I  would  attach  gi-eat 
importance  to  the  Chicago-Lambeth  proposals,  especially  the  "historic 
episcopate."  For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  church  that  episco- 
pate is  presented  as  a  unifying  bond  among  Christian  bodies  which  it  has 
hitherto  repelled  as  sects  and  outcasts.  As  never  before,  it  may  now  be 
accepted  on  the  Presbyterian  theory  as  well  as  on  the  prelatic  theory  of 
the  Christian  ministry.  Neither  theory  should  exclude  the  other.  In  the 
one  Apostolic  Church  differences  in  doctrine  and  ritual  were  allowed 
without  the  unchristian  results  of  schism  and  sectarianism.  Taking 
Christendom  as  it  now  is  and  has  been  for  centuries  past,  I  do  not  see 
how  its  Reunion  is  to  be  effecte<l  without  the  "historic  episcopate."  It  is 
tenaciously  held  by  four  fifths  of  the  Christian  world,  and  shows  a  capacity 
for  embracing  the  remaining  fifth  within  its  scope.  Not  only  does  it  pre- 
vail throughout  tlie  great  historic  churches,  but,  in  this  country  at  least, 
•it  involves  the  Presbyterial  and  Congregational  systems  of  the  Protest- 
ant churches,  and  is  thus  fitted  to  become  the  keystone  of  a  reunited 
Christendom. 

I  ought  to  add  that  I  have  here  assumed  Christian  unity  as  an  already 
accomplished  fact  and  condition  precedent  to  church  unity.  The  real 
problem  is,  how  to  express  the  Christian  unity  of  the  churches  in  an  eccle- 
siastical unity,  which  shall  represent  the  body  of  Christ  as  no  longer 
mutilated  and  distracted,  but  with  its  various  members  in  conscious  har- 
mony and  normal  exercise. 

Charles  \V.  Shiei-ds. 
[I'rofrimor  in  the  College  of  Neic  Jersey,  rriiicetoti.] 
Princeton  University',  Sept.  20,  1893. 


62 


APPENDIX. 


Protestant  Episcopal. 

The  great  pressm-e  of  my  engagements,  preparatory  to  my  departure 
on  Saturday  next  for  Genoa,  has  made  it  impossible  for  me  to  comply  with 
your  request. 

I  differ  from  you,  I  fear,  since  I  hold  that  the  Reunion  of  Christendom 
must  be  along  organic  rather  than  sentimental  lines,  and  marked  by  a 
large  tolerance  rather  than  by  precise  dogmatic  terms. 

The  Apostles'  Creed  and  the  primitive  church  government  as  indicated 
by  you,  as  universal  a.d.  200,  will  have  to  be  sufficient  for  the  people. 

H.  C.  Potter. 
[^Bisliop  of  New  York.'\ 

New  York,  Oct.  17,  1893. 
Protestant  Episcopal. 

We  used  to  hear  a  great  deal  said  about  the  advantages  and  desirable- 
ness of  the  divisions  of  Christendom,  as  stimulating  a  "wholesome  compe- 
tition "and  provoking  "unto  love  and  good  works."  "We  hear  next  to 
nothing  of  all  this  now.  Bitter  experience  has  proved  that  the  stimulus 
is  to  unwholesome  rivalry  instead  of  wholesome  competition,  and  that  the 
provocation  is  far  more  to  "  wrath  and  anger  and  clamor  and  evil  speak- 
ing" than  to  "  love  and  good  works."  There  is  a  widespreading  feeling  that 
unity  among  those  who  name  "the  Name  which  is  above  every  name"  is 
not  only  a  necessity  for  the  full  life  of  the  church  itself,  but  a  prerequisite, 
also,  for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  .  .  . 

Whenever  that  organic  unity,  which  the  church  lost  because  of  sin, 
shall  be  restored,  it  will  be  at  a  time  unexpected  by  men,  and  by  methods 
other  than  those  which  men  have  contrived.  Yet  much  can  be  done  by 
every  one  of  us.  We  can  avoid  that  hard,  narrow,  and  really  Donatistic 
temper  which  is  sometimes  taken  for  churchmanship.  We  can  recognize 
truth  and  goodness  wherever  they  are,  and  in  devout  thankfulness  to  God 
recognize  them  as  the  fruit  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  .  .  . 

In  the  next  place,  there  are  many  occasions,  opportunities,  and  under- 
takings in  which  the  members  of  different  Christian  bodies  can  meet  and 
work  together,  and  in  this  intercourse  and  interchange  learn  to  know  each 
other  better,  and  to  get  rid  of  a  thousand  prejudices  and  fal.se  judgments. 

Above  all,  there  is  that  mightiest  weapon,  which  all  of  us  can  wield — 
instant,  honest,  earnest  prayer.    Had  there  been  less  planning  and  more 


APPENDIX. 


63 


praying,  we  should,  I  fully  believe,  be  in  far  better  ease  than  we  are  now. 
Suppose,  for  instance,  that  on  every  Thursday  that  beautiful  and  compre- 
hensive collect  for  unity,  which  will,  I  trust,  soon  be  found  in  our  own 
prayer-book,  had  been  used  in  private  devotions,  at  family  worship,  and 
in  public  services,  who  can  estimate  the  results  that  might  have  followed  f 
We  should  have  had,  no  doubt,  fewer  elaborate  essays,  fewer  proposed 
panaceas,  but  we  should  assuredly  have  had  in  their  place  something 
vastly  better  and  more  effective. 

J.  Williams. 
IBishop  of  Connecticut.'] 

MiDDLETOWN,  CoNN.,  September,  1893. 

Protestant  Episcopal. 

I  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging  my  ag^reement  with  your  paper  on 
"The  Reunion  of  Christendom."  .  .  . 

My  own  feeling  and  observation  incline  me  to  believe  that  the  senti- 
ment which  calls  for  the  unity  of  the  church  is  a  growing  one,  and  des- 
tined further  to  increase  because  it  is  rooted  in  deep  wants  of  the  age,  as 
also  because  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  motives  which  are  now  influencing 
our  deeper  thought  and  actiWties.  ...  If,  since  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion, individualism  in  religion  seems  to  have  gone  so  far  as  to  threaten 
disintegi-ation  while  it  still  clings  to  its  prerogative,  even  at  the  expense 
of  still  further  dividing  Christendom,  it  is  well  to  recall  the  long  regime 
of  the  so-called  Catholic  ages,  when  individualism  found  no  expression, 
when  humanity  was  making  such  immense  sacrifices  to  mamtain  an 
approximate  imity  in  the  church.  The  place  of  individualism  in  the 
church  must  be  guaranteed  beyond  the  possibility  of  loss  or  danger  before 
any  scheme  of  unity  can  i)revail.  The  fear  that  this  will  not  be  done 
still  hinders  many  from  giving  their  cordial  support  to  the  growing  senti- 
ment, and  perhaps  is  the  greatest  obstacle  to  be  overcome. 

I  agree  with  you  that  the  scientific,  non-partisan  study  of  cliurch  history 
is  one  of  the  most  important  means  for  the  realization  of  Cliristian  unity 
and  is  already  bearing  fruit.  To  this  end  is  contributing  the  profounder 
investigation  of  the  origins  of  Christianity.  .  .  .  But  the  differences  which 
divide  the  churches  still  go  deeper  than  any  mere  historical  treatment  can 
reach,  unless  it  be  accomi)anied  by  a  profound  insight  into  the  heart  of 
our  common  humanity,  and  sympathy  with  its  deeper  moods.  For  the 
most  persistent  of  these  divisions  reach  back  in  the  last  analysis  to  tlio 
absorbing  question  of  the  ground  of  religious  certitude. 


64 


APPENDIX. 


Here  lies  the  motive  which  has  given  rise  to  the  great  attitudes  which 
now  divide  the  Christian  world.  Among  them  are :  1.  The  doctrine  of 
apostolic  succession — the  sole  guarantee  of  the  faith ;  2.  The  doctrine  of 
papal  infallibility ;  3.  The  infallibility  of  the  text  of  Scriptui-e  by  means 
of  verbal  inspiration ;  4.  Another  principle,  not  so  easily  stated,  but  which 
animates  the  large  Baptist  communion  and  finds  its  logical  sequence  in 
the  Seventh-Day  Baptists.  K  there  is  any  common  solvent  for  these 
assumptions  upon  which  the  divisions  of  Christendom  rest,  may  we  not 
look  for  it  in  the  great  and  inspiring  motive  which  underlies  the  higher 
criticism,  whose  final  aim  is  to  trace  the  actual  objective  method  of  the 
divine  revelation?  For  these  theories,  above  mentioned,  are  content  with 
affirming  the  fact  of  a  revelation,  while  stifling  inquiry  as  to  its  true 
method.  Indeed,  the  very  attempt  to  do  so  seems  to  many  as  unjustifiable 
or  impious  as  were  thought  to  be  the  first  efforts  to  inquire  into  the  ways 
of  God  in  the  world  of  external  nature,  when  natural  science  took  its  rise 
in  the  age  of  the  Renaissance.  .  .  . 

It  seems  clear  that  none  of  the  ecclesiastical  arrangements  of  other 
ages  is  large  enough  for  the  comprehensive,  richer  life  of  the  church  of 
the  future,  just  as  no  one  of  them  is  large  enough  to  include  the  full  life 
of  the  churches  to-day.  Some  common  impulse  acting  upon  all  the 
churches  alike  is  capable  of  becoming  a  bond  of  unity,  or  of  taking  shape 
in  some  institutional  form,  which  shall  be  the  universal  surprise  of  Chris- 
tian souls.  Have  we  not  the  hint  or  germ  of  some  such  coming  motive  in 
the  gi'owing  recognition  of  the  person  of  Christ  as  in  himself  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation?  His  attractive  spell  it  is  which  constitutes  the  real 
church,  the  kingdom  of  God  among  men.  Those  who  know  him  know 
each  other,  and  make  at  once  a  holy  and  organic  brotherhood.  This  is 
the  reality,  which  now  at  last  we  demand,  without  which  all  else  is  hollow. 

Alexander  V.  G.  Allen. 
[Professor  Harvard  Episcopal  Divinity  School.] 

Cambridhe,  Mass.,  September,  1893. 

Protestant  Episcopal. 

I  do  not  think  that  a  divided  Christendom  has  been  an  unmixed  evil  in 
the  past.  Neither  do  I  believe  that  it  is  so  now.  It  has  had  the  effect  to 
bring  out  the  many-sidedness  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  to  give  us  a 
larger  conception  of  Christ  as  apprehended  from  different  points  of  view. 

It  would  seem,  however,  as  though  the  time  had  come  for  an  adjust- 


APPENDIX. 


65 


ment  of  these  differences,  and  I  agree  with  you  in  thinking  that  a  reunion 
of  the  churches  for  benevolent  and  mibsiouary  work  at  home  and  abroad  is 
more  likely  to  be  effected  by  a  federation  than  by  any  attempt,  at  present, 
at  organic  unity.  Let  each  church  or  ecclesiastical  organization  maintain 
its  distinctiveness,  and  at  the  same  time  be  sufficiently  broad  and  catholic 
in  spirit  as  to  recognize  the  value  of  the  other  churches,  and  to  cooperate 
with  them  in  the  great  work  of  evangelizing  the  world. 

David  H.  Greee. 
IBector  of  St.  Bartholomew's.} 

New  York,  Sept.  26,  1893. 
Reformed  {German,  in  the  United  States). 

My  opinion  is  that  the  naiTOw  spirit  of  sect  still  has  a  firm  hold  on  a 
large  majority  of  Christian  people.  The  great  truth  that,  as  there  is  but 
one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  so  there  is  but  one  Christianity,  one 
church  catholic,  seems  not  to  be  believed,  or,  if  admitted  in  theory,  it  is 
not  felt,  and  does  not  perceptibly  govern  practice. 

The  obstacle  to  the  reunion  of  Christendom  is  not  the  fact  that  valu- 
ing types  of  Christianity  have  developed  in  the  form  of  distinct  organiza- 
tions, but  the  lack  of  devotion  to  Jesus  Christ  and  of  genuine  fraternal 
love.  Such  love  sees  in  every  historical  organization  a  living  branch  of 
the  one  church,  and  in  every  faitliful  Christian  a  member  of  Christ.  The 
command  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  "  is  above  all  applica- 
ble in  this  age  to  the  rival  denominations  of  Protestantism. 

Efforts  to  heal  divisions  shotild  be  mainly  directed  toward  <iuiekpuing 
the  recognition  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  living  center  of  practical  re- 
ligion, of  ecclesiastical  fellowship,  and  of  theological  thought.  In  the 
degree  that  he,  the  glorified  Mediator,  not  tradition,  not  a  form  of  church 
government,  not  the  name  of  an  honored  Reformer,  not  a  mode  of  bap- 
tism, has  the  devotion  and  rules  the  labors  of  his  people,  wo  shall  be 
approaching  the  day  when  Christendom  will  be  one  body,  consisting  of 
many  members,  keeping  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace. 

I  distinguish  between  the  "di\'i8ions  of  Christendom"  and  different 
forms  of  ecclesiastical  organization.  The  former  involve  party  siiiril, 
animosity,  strife,  and  are  censured  by  St.  Paul  in  1  Cor.  i.  13.  The  latter 
are  an  inward  necessity  growing  out  of  the  human  constitution  and  of 
historical  circumstances,  and  are  illustrated  by  tlu-  suine  Apostle  in  the 


66 


APPENDIX. 


same  epistle,  twelfth  chapter,  under  the  image  of  the  body  with  its  many- 
members.  An  attempt  to  abolish  ecclesiastical  organizations  by  an  exter- 
nal application  of  some  method  of  unification  woidd  be  likely  to  increase 
the  e^nls  of  division. 

Of  the  three  kinds  of  union  which  you  have  clearly  represented — indi- 
vidual, federal,  and  organic — each  has  a  place  in  the  general  adjustment  of 
existing  separations.  But  I  concur  in  the  judgment  that  for  the  Protestant 
part  of  Christendom  wisdom  dictates  that  each  Family  aim  at  a  confed- 
erate union  of  all  its  branches,  such  as  was  proposed  two  years  ago  by  the 
Gennan  and  Dutch  Reformed  churches  of  this  country.  ...  If  endeavors 
towai'd  effecting  federal  unions  of  this  nature  are  now  unadvisable,  or  if 
party  spirit  succeeds  in  turning  such  efforts  into  failure,  I  know  of  no 
alternative  but  to  pray  and  labor  toward  the  more  general  recognition  of 
Jesus  Christ  glorified  as  the  only  head  and  law  of  every  organized  body  of 
Christians.  In  so  far  as  this  fundamental  truth  gains  controlling  power 
in  the  hearts  of  believers,  all  lines  of  separation  will  lose  their  divisive 
force. 

E.  V.  Gerhart. 
IProfessor  of  Theology,  Larwaster,  Pa.] 

Lancaster,  Oct.  12,  1893. 
Reformed  (Siviss). 

It  is  magnificent,  it  is  startling !  This  is  the  exclamation  with  which 
I  rise  from  the  penisal  of  your  paper,  read  at  the  Council  in  Chicago. 
Yes,  it  strengthens  the  heart  and  gladdens  one's  faith  to  thus  contem- 
plate the  work  of  God  in  its  numerous  ramifications  and  in  spite  of  the 
modifications  to  which  human  instruments  have  subjected  it.  And  every 
one  of  your  readers  will  join  with  you  in  the  sentiments  of  adoration  in  the 
words  of  St.  Paul  with  which  you  close  this  beautiful  work. 

Thanks  that  you  should  have  given  it  to  the  church.  Thanks  that  you 
should  have  sent  it  to  me.  Your  optimism  goes  far  when  you  picture  to 
yourself  the  pope  using  his  infallibility  for  proclaiming  his  fallibility  in  a 
certain  sense  and  beyond  a  certain  domain.  You  also  go  quite  far  in 
recognizing  claims  to  praise  in  certain  denominations.  But  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  escape  from  the  current  of  optimism  and  universality  with  which 
you  impress  the  heart  of  the  reader,  who  would  like  to  join  with  you  in 
saluting  in  advance  the  work  of  the  twentieth  century.  For  the  time  and 
in  the  face  of  the  future,  which  is  so  very  near,  I  must  confess  that  I  am 


APPENDIX. 


67 


profoundly  a  pessimist,  and  that  I  see  the  gathering  typhoon  which  will 
sweep  over  the  church.  But  it  may  be  that  out  of  this  ruin  a  saved  church 
will  come  forth  rejuvenated  and  unified,  as  you  hope. 

Frederic  Godet. 
\_Professor  of  Theology,  XeuchateL] 

Neuchatel,  Oct.  2,  1893. 

Reformed  (Swiss). 

I  am  fully  at  one  with  you  in  all  the  essential  points  of  your  address, 
and  have  only  two  remarks  to  add.  First,  in  regard  to  the  place  to  be 
assigned  to  the  confessions  in  a  union  of  the  churches.  A  union  will  be 
upon  the  basis  of  emphasizing,  with  all  possible  positiveness,  that  which 
is  common  to  all  churches,  the  essential  content  of  their  faith.  At  the 
same  time,  all  of  the  churches  must  have  liberty  to  use  in  their  own  ser- 
vices and  Christian  instinietion  the  confessions  through  which  their  exist- 
ence as  churches  was  obtained.  Otherwise  we  would  have  to  look  for- 
ward with  the  expectation  of  seeing  the  faith  which  is  common  to  all  again 
analyzed  and  stated  in  various  creeds,  leading  to  new  divisions  of  the 
general  body.  Each  must  have  the  right  to  preserve  indi\-idual  traits,  or  a 
union  will  be  of  temporary  and  uncertain  existence. 

My  second  criticism  does  not  refer  to  the  theme  you  have  treated  so 
much  as  to  the  occasion  which  enabled  you  to  discuss  it.  I  can  fully 
understand  the  meaning  of  a  convention  of  Christians  of  all  denomina- 
tions, and  regard  the  appointment  of  such  a  meeting  as  natural,  desirable, 
and  full  of  promise. 

But  the  meaning  and  purpose  of  a  convention  of  adherents  of  all  "re- 
ligions," hence,  too,  of  non-Christians,  such  as  was  called  iit  Chicago,  is  to 
me  simply  inconijirehensible. 

It  surely  cannot  bo  expected  that  the  Mohammedan,  heathen,  and 
fetish-worshiping  members  of  such  a  convention  will  ininiediatdy  con»if'nt 
to  be  converted  to  Christ;  but  any  other  result  of  the  convention  is  e<|uiv- 
alent  to  a  defeat,  so  far  as  external  appearances  go,  for  Christianity. 

But  I  suppose  that  your  j)a])er  is  ])y  no  means  intentled  for  this  gaUior- 
ing,  but  rather  for  the  assembly  of  ('hristian  clnirclies  of  all  denomina- 
tions, and  so  far  I  agree  with  its  spirit  and  aims. 

(iKORd  VON  Wv.ss. 
[Professor  of  Ui.iloni,  /iirivli.  ] 

ZC'Ricii,  Oct.  Ui,  1893. 


68 


APPKNDIX. 


Roman  Catholic. 

I  have  read  your  paper  with  profound  sympathy.  I  am  sure  I  need  not 
assure  you  that  my  heart  craves  for  the  realization  of  the  reunion  of 
Christendom,  as  must  every  heart  that  has  in  it  even  a  little  of  the  spirit 
that  filled  the  heart  of  our  divine  Lord  when  he  prayed  to  his  Father 
for  the  perfect  oneness  of  his  disciples.  It  is  a  question  of  tremendous 
importance,  because  it  is  not  human  devising,  but  divine  principles  and 
ordinances,  which  have  to  guide  and  control  its  solution. 

I  do  not  think  I  can  better  express  my  views  on  the  subject  than  I  did 
in  that  part  of  my  discourse  on  the  Ultimate  Religion,  delivered  in  the 
Parliament  of  Religions,  which  concerns  this  point,  and  is  as  follows : 

The  wondrous  message  Jesus  Christ  sent  "  to  every  creature,"  proclaim- 
ing, as  it  had  never  been  proclaimed  before,  the  value  and  the  rights  of 
each  individual  soul,  the  sublimest  individualism  the  world  has  ever  heard 
of.  And  then,  with  the  heavenly  balance  and  equilibrium  which  brings 
all  individualities  into  order  and  harmony  and  unity,  he  calls  all  to  be 
sheep  and  of  one  fold,  branches  of  one  vine,  members  of  one  body,  in 
which  all,  while  members  of  one  head,  are  also  "members  one  of  another," 
in  which  is  the  fulfillment  of  his  own  sublime  prayer  and  prophecy  :  "  That 
all  may  be  one,  as  thou.  Father,  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may 
be  one  in  us,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one." 

Thus  he  makes  his  church  a  perfect  society,  both  human  and  divine ; 
on  its  human  side,  the  most  perfect  multiplicity  in  unity,  and  unity  in 
multiplicity,  the  most  perfect  socialism  and  solidarity  that  the  world  could 
ever  know ;  on  its  divine  side,  the  instrumentality  devised  by  the  Savior 
of  the  world  for  imparting,  maintaining,  and  operating  the  action  of  the 
divine  life  in  each  soul ;  in  its  entirety,  the  body,  the  vine,  both  divine  and 
human,  a  living  organism,  imparting  the  life  of  God  to  humanity.  This  is 
the  way  in  which  the  Church  of  Christ  is  presented  to  us  by  the  apostles 
and  by  our  Lord  himself.  It  is  a  concrete  individuality,  as  distinct  and 
unmistakable  as  himself.  It  is  no  mere  aggregation,  no  m3re  cooperation 
or  confederation  of  distinct  bodies ;  it  is  an  organic  unity,  it  is  the  body 
of  Christ,  our  means  of  being  ingi-afted  in  him  and  sharing  in  his  life. 

This  is  unmistakably  his  provision  for  the  sanctification  of  tlie  world. 
Will  any  one  venture  to  devise  a  substitute  for  it?  Will  any  one,  in  the 
face  of  this  clear  and  imperative  teaching  of  our  Lord,  ass(>rt  that  any 
separated  branch  may  choose  to  live  apart  by  itself,  or  that  any  aggrega- 
tion of  separated  branches  may  do  instead  of  <lie  organic  duty  of  the  vino, 
of  the  body? 


APPENDIX. 


69 


Men  of  impetuous  earnestness  have  embodied  good  and  noble  ideas  in 
separate  organizations  of  their  own.  They  were  right  in  the  ideas ;  they 
were  wrong  in  the  separation.  On  the  human  side  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
as  there  will  always  be,  as  there  always  has  been,  room  for  improvement ; 
room  for  the  elimination  of  human  evil,  siuee  our  Lord  has  given  no  prom- 
ise of  human  impeccability ;  room  for  the  admission  and  application  of 
every  human  excellence ;  room  for  the  emploj-ment  and  the  ordering  of 
every  human  energy  in  every  work  that  is  for  God's  glory  and  man's 
welfare ;  room  not  only  for  individual  beings,  but  for  strong,  majestic 
branches  and  limbs  innumerable ;  hut  all  in  the  organic  unity  of  the  one 
vine,  the  one  body.  For,  on  the  divine  side,  there  can  be  "no  change  nor 
shadow  of  alteration,"  and  the  living  organism  of  the  vine  of  the  body 
must  ever  maintain  its  individual  identity,  just  as  a  living  human  being, 
though  ever  subject  to  life's  vicissitudes,  is  ever  the  same  identical  self. 

Jesus  Christ  is  the  ultimate  center  of  religion.  He  has  declared  that 
his  one  organic  church  is  equally  ultimate.  Because  I  believe  him,  here 
must  be  my  stand  forever. 

John  J.  Keane. 
[Bighop  and  Rector  of  the  Catholic 
University  of  America.] 

Washington,  Oct.  16,  1893. 


I  have  read  with  intense  interest  your  admirable  address  on  "The  Re- 
union of  Christendom."  It  is  very  able,  very  catholic,  and  I  indorse  it 
from  beginning  to  end. 

It  is  a  very  charming  thing  that  you  have  had  strength  and  courage 
given  you  to  write  so  wise  and  useful  an  article,  and  I  hope  you  will  live 
to  see  this  kind  of  spirit  in  the  universal  church. 

W.  E.  Dodge. 
[President  of  the  EramjeUcal  AUianvc 
for  the  United  Slateg.] 

New  York,  Sept.  22,  1893. 

The  Reunion  of  Christendom  is  to  bo  prayed  for,  labored  for,  and 
expected.  It  cannot  be  accom])liHhed,  however,  as  long  as  any  church 
makes  exclusive  claims  to  legitimacy  of  organization  or  of  orders.  All 
churches,  therefore,  whidi  niiikc  sucli  claims  arc  obstacles  to  Kcunioii, 


70 


APPENDIX. 


and  will  continue  such  until  they  have  undergone  changes,  which  in  the 
case  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  must  be  nothing  less  radical  than 
regeneration. 

This  means  that  Reunion  is  many  generations,  if  not  many  centuries, 
yet  in  the  future.  But  though  this  consummation  is  remote  in  time,  we 
may  nevertheless  labor  for  it  intelligently,  and  so  hasten  its  coming.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  several  means  of  promoting  Christian  union  which 
you  suggest  (pp.  38-40)  should  all  be  emphasized,  and  especially  coopera- 
tion, which  will  facilitate  acquaintance  and  thus  cultivate  confidence  and 
Christian  fellowship.  As  long  as  cooperation  is  impracticable,  organic 
imion  will  remain  impossible.  If  we  cannot  accomplish  the  less,  we 
need  not  hope  for  the  gi-eater.  Churches  which  cannot  cooperate  cannot 
coalesce. 

You  speak  of  three  kinds  of  Christian  union  (pp.  14,  15),  the  second  of 
which  is  "federal  or  confederate  union."  You  go  on  to  show  that  by  this 
you  mean  a  confederation  of  denominations,  effected  through  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  authority  of  the  several  bodies.  This  might  be  called  feder- 
ation at  the  top.  Is  there  not  another  form  of  federation  which  is  both 
more  desirable  and  more  feasible,  and  which  may  yet  furnish  the  key  to 
the  great  problem  of  organic  union?  I  refer  to  the  federation  of  local 
churches — the  bringing  of  the  churches  of  the  same  city  into  cooperative 
and  at  length  organic  relations.   This  we  may  call  federation  at  the  bottom. 

The  churches  of  the  same  community,  being  charged  with  its  Christian- 
ization,  having  the  same  great  aims,  holding  essentially  the  same  doc- 
trines, enjoying  the  same  opportunities,  contending  against  the  same 
obstacles,  have  much  more  in  common  with  each  other  than  with  churches 
hundi'eds  or  thousands  of  miles  away,  with  which  the  only  distinctive  bond 
is  a  denominational  name,  a  non-essential  doctrine,  a  common  form  of 
government  or  of  ritual.  The  sooner  the  churches  of  every  community 
discover  this  and  effect  federation  at  the  bottom,  the  sooner  will  they  take 
the  first  great  step  toward  organic  union,  and,  what  is  still  more  impor- 
tant, the  sooner  will  they  accomplish  their  mission  both  to  the  individual 
and  to  society. 

We  read  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia,  but  of  only  one  church  in 
Ephesus,  one  in  Smyrna,  one  in  Pergainos,  and  the  like.  There  may  have 
been  several  worshiping  congregations  in  each  city,  but  there  was  only 
one  church  in  each.  When  the  time  comes  that,  after  the  manner  of 
Scripture,  we  may  say  the  church  which  is  in  New  York,  the  church  which 


APPENDIX. 


71 


is  in  London,  the  church  which  is  in  Berlin,  the  Reunion  of  Christendom 
will  not  be  long  delayed.  And  it  does  not  seem  unreasonable  to  me  to 
hope  that  the  Protestant  municipal  church  will  appear  before  many  gen- 
erations. 

JosiAH  Strong. 

^General  Sea-etary  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  for  the  United  States.] 

New  York,  1893. 


